Baccano
by Sharkey52
Summary: It's nearing the end of the Prohibition era in America, and the trans-continental luxury express The Flying Lancer is traveling from Union Station to Grand Central Terminal. With a gang of psychopaths, a cult of assassins, a group of delinquents, the family of a senator, two adventurous miners and an awesome fact-finder on board though, it wasn't as if the train was arrive smoothly
1. A mysterious cripple

**Well, hello again Arc-V fandom. It's good to see you again.**

 **It's been a while, I know, and this is my apology to you. A 56000 word, 74 page love letter to two of my favourite animes.**

 **If you haven't guess by the title, this is a story based on the 2007 anime series Baccano, which is series about prohibition-era alcohol gangs and yet still has a lower death count than Arc-V. Baccano follows three semi-independent story lines featuring featuring a main cast of nearly twenty people. For this reason, I only have enough characters to cover one story line in this fic. However, its unanimously the best of the three, so you won't be missing out on too much. Notably, I also tried to avoid Baccano's more supernatural elements because, like I said, I didn't have enough characters to then explain those supernatural elements. Basically, you can read this fic and still be in for several pleasant surprises.**

 **Another thing about Baccano is that it isn't told linearly, and events may not be shown in the right order. I've included dates, location titles and times at the start of every switch in the narrative to make following this easier.**

 **After three weeks I have most of this story finished, so I'll be publishing it at a rate of about one chapter per day, or two days if I'm busy. Please review as you go along though - when university studies are getting difficult, nothing put a smile on a poor fic writer's face than reviews.**

* * *

 **Baccano**

noun [masculine] (Italian)

/ba'k:ano/

 **racket, din, noise, ruckus**

Example: Non fate baccano! - Don't make a lot of racket!

* * *

 **Chapter One**

"A mysterious cripple walks into the president's office"

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **10:00**

The turn of the twenties into the thirties, where there was one occupation that under threat from a vicious new predator.

Being a salesman.

Well, this was of course true, but not quite relevant for this particular story. What I actually meant to say was:

Being a bootlegger.

Also true. Just one year from now, the prohibition era will end and alcohol will go back to being the daily breakfast, lunch and dinner of the American public. I mean, if everyone's gonna starve to death they may as well do it while so drunk they don't realise just what a mess they're in.

While this is indeed relevant to this story, if not so much for this chapter. In fact, this chapter is about an unbelievable third occupation under threat.

(In reality the thirties just kinda sucked for everyone. Basically you had to be a pastor or a cop to survive, and even then, the latter was no guarantee. I mean, it's one thing for you to starve to death, but riddled with bullets from a tommy gun can't be the best way to go out either, right?)

In this case, we're talking about:

Being a journalist.

Sounds kinda weird? I mean, even starving people wanna know what's going on in the world, right? Well that's where that nasty new predator comes in:

Radio.

It was a nasty little thing that had been around since the 1910's or so. But it has started to get its bread and butter in the twenties. By the time we get to 1932, newspapers were practically sweating bullets at the idea that people would get sick of buying their broadsheets when they could just listen to one dude's voice telling them everything they needed to know in half the time. Just six years from now, the whole newspaper industry would come together to manufacture a hoax about some guy's radio drama causing the whole east coast to think they were being invaded by aliens in an attempt to discredit radio for good.

That dude was Orson Wells, and he used the massive publicity the rags gave him to create a little know feature film called 'Citizen Kane', so clearly they were very successful at it.

Of course, all of us from the 21st century know this is all nonsense and that nearly ninety years later, people will continue to buy newspapers, despite the fact they now not only have radio, but televisions that will give them the whole story, also in half the time, but with pretty moving pictures to boot. Because apparently, newspaper guys in the thirties couldn't comprehend the utter lack of logic their great-grandchildren would possess.

But when a cripple walked in the Daily Days news office at 5-7 Doyers Street, the idea that newspapers were going out of style was a real fear. Most of the minor papers had gone out of business just from the idea; that or been gobbled up by major headliners like the New York Times and the New York Tribune and basically every other paper that started with the words 'New York'. The small paper known as the Daily Days that was distributed from an unobtrusive corner of Manhattan's Chinatown, however, had managed to weather the years on a small but loyal group of readers who appreciated daily, unbiased updates on what the free-thinking journalists, many of them Chinese themselves, thought of the world.

Steering each day of chaos towards another successful issue was chief editor and part-time information broker, Shingo Sawatari, who, at this moment, was debating his life choices.

Being promoted to chief editor, at the time, sounded like a great idea – more pay, more freedom to tell the news as he liked it and more underlings to appreciate how amazing he was. However, it felt more like herding cats.

And not those nice house cats that jumped up on your lap and purred at you. But mangy street cats who were just waiting to take a chunk out of your leg the second you took your eyes off of them.

Today was even worse then usual. A Friday would usually be a fairly relaxed day – nothing exciting ever happened on a Friday after all – and Shingo could usually get a moment of sleep at his desk in his shiny office on the second floor (you know, the one Shinji had kicked the door of down when he found someone had misspelt his name as Shinji Weeber and took personal offense to it. The same office that was currently graffitied with bad Italian slogans and the words 'Professional Worrier' painted above the desk chair, which in turn had been glued to the floor and slathered with honey – Shingo loved his work colleagues, he really did). However, this week happened to contain the weekend the Chinese New Year fell on, and it appeared everyone of even vaguely Chinese descent had decided not to come into work today (including that one blonde dude with the red tattoos on his face who swore he was from Peiping. If he was Chinese, Shingo was the hitman for the Haitian mob). This left poor, poor Shingo with a bunch of grouchy white dudes and a couple of fresh-faced interns trying to hammer out _something_ to keep the paper's so-far spotless record of publishing something every day.

So when the cripple walked into the front office of the Daily Days, Shingo was not indeed napping in his office. Instead he was passed out on the front desk, having nightmares about angry bosses and semi-violent copy editors and passive-aggressive freelancers and the fact someone had managed to misspelt the word 'moist' three different times in the same article.

The cripple in question stared at Shingo like he was some sort of circus attraction. Then, he raised his hand and brought his palm down on the bell fitted to the counter.

Shingo woke with a start at the sudden ringing noise in his ear, startling so badly he managed to roll right of the desk and bring the final draft for three different articles with him. Before the cripple could so much as ask if he was okay though, Shingo was back on his feet and greeting the visitor with a cheery grin that may have been just a little forced.

"Hello there! Welcome to the Daily Days, bringing the daily news to the masses. I'm Chief Editor Shingo Sawatari, how can I help you?"

The cripple blinked a pair of green eyes up at him and shifted his weight on his crutch a bit. "I got a letter telling me to come here."

With those words, the small man produced a letter, folded twice and thrice over, from his coat pocket and handed it to Shingo.

Shingo opened it and recognised the handwriting immediately. This was definitely Shinji's, instructing this young man to come to the office this Friday morning on 'urgent matters'.

Urgent matters with a cripple? What was he up to?

"Just, wait here for a minute, ok?" Shingo told the cripple, still looking at the letter more than its owner, and turned up the stairs to the first floor where Shinji's office was.

Shingo, before his office was untimely invaded, had prided himself on keeping a clean and tidy work environment. Which, in hindsight, probably explained the invasion. Nobody had bothered to wreck Shinji's office, however, as no one could possibly hope to create as much a mess as Shinji himself had already done so.

The copy editor's office may as well be the office archive. Papers, drafts and completed works, were stacked from floor to ceiling, almost baring any view one might have of the man at the equally crowded desk. Shinji refused to let anyone clean it for him, insisting it formed some kind of system he could follow. Shingo could only guess it followed the same idea as fossils – you could date them by the amount of strata they were buried under.

"Did you ask some cripple to come in today?" Shingo had learnt over time that it was safer to just get to the point with Shinji – opening a conversation in a roundabout way tended to deliver you a politically-charged rant on anything from bees to the rise of socialism.

Shinji frowned, peeking his head out from behind the looming towers for yesteryear. "He here for a story?"

"I don't know" Shingo shrugged, holding up the letter "He has a letter from you, says he had to turn up today on 'urgent matters'."

Shinji frowned and touched his glasses in thought. "He's crippled, you said?"

"He's on crutches" Shingo confirmed.

"Short guy? Ponytail?"

"Yeah."  
"With a broken leg?"

"I guess. It had a splint on it."

Shinji suddenly jumped up from his desk, three of his towers crashing onto one of the few patches of unblemished floor left in the office. "Oh my god! He actually turned up!"

"What?" Shingo couldn't understand what all the fuss was about "He a celebrity or something?"

"The president wanted to see him!" Shinji told him, flying past Shingo whilst trying to ditch his reading glasses, coat and what appeared to be a stray magnifying glass "He had me send letters to all these weird places all over the country, but he didn't think the guy would show! But he's here!"

"The _president_ wants to meet him?" Shingo's eyebrows practically climbed into the rafters.

The president never met with anybody. Shingo was his chief editor and he could count the number of times he'd met the man on one hand.

"Hello there sir!" Shinji greeted the stranger with open arms and a wide smile "Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope the journey wasn't too far for you! The president is just upstairs!"

The cripple shot Shinji a calculating look, like he was sizing him up and finding him wanting. None the less, he hobbled over to the stairs and began the slow climb up them.

Shingo considered asking if he needed any help, but felt this would be perceived negatively, and so decided to keep his mouth shut and just follow the pair upstairs.

The president, despite the level of importance the name carried, actually had his office on the same floor as Shingo and Shinji's. In fact, from the few times he'd been inside said office, Shingo was almost certain it was actually smaller than his. It wasn't as if it had a great window view either – just a filthy back alley. But what the president liked wasn't any of Shingo's business, even if he really wished it was. If it was, he could get rid of that awful red carpet and replace it with something that made the room seem just a little bit bigger and airier. Maybe a nice cream or beige?

Shinji didn't even bother to knock, just threw open the doors with the enthusiasm of a train heading for a complete wreck.

"Sir! Your mysterious visitor has arrived! Just like you wanted!"

The president turned in his chair and ignored Shinji completely, eyes focused purely on the young man leaning on his crutch in the doorway of the office. The cripple, in turn, didn't so much as bat an eyelid at the president. To Shingo, this meant one of two things – either they had met before, or the young man had seen so much in his life that seeing the president, who he was a just how surprising it was to see him there, just didn't affect him at all.

Shingo hoped sincerely it wasn't the latter. He had to deal with enough crazy, broken people on a day-to-day basis.

"Hello there" the president said "I don't supposed we've had to the chance to meet before."

"Probably not" the cripple admitted, a vaguely southern accent in his words that Shingo hadn't noticed before.

"I'm sorry to drag you out here out of the blue."

Shingo nearly fainted, since when does _the president_ apologise to anyone?

"It's alright" the cripple shrugged, shifting his weight on his crutch as he did so "I was in the city anyway."

"Please, take a seat" the president gestured to the large sofa on the opposite side of the room.

To Shingo's surprise, because apparently he was getting enough surprises to last a year this morning, the cripple hobbled across the room and sat down, leaning his crutch against the wall, splinted leg propped up on the coffee table.

"Do close the door, Sawatari, this is a private meeting" the president finally acknowledged Shingo was even there.

Shingo jumped to it and slammed the door behind him. He wondered if 'private meeting' meant he and Shinji were supposed to leave, but Shinji didn't seem to be in a hurry to go, so he decided to stick around until he was told to get out.

Shinji, meanwhile, had produced a box of lemon drops and held them out to their guest. "Lemon drop?"

The cripple stared at the open box for a few seconds, before reaching forward and taking the whole box out of Shinji's hand, wolfing down a handful of them so quickly Shingo could barely keep up.

Shinji frowned, clearly not impressed with the man's behaviour, but it wouldn't do well to badmouth the president's guest, and so kept his mouth shut and moved back to sit himself down in an armchair near the sofa instead.

"So, you here for the same reason as everyone else?" the cripple asked, mouth still full of the sugary treats.

Shingo and Shinji both winced at the appalling manners and wondered who their beloved president was associating himself with now.

"I'm not here to throw money at you, no" the president corrected him "Nor am I here for sensationalism. Just the truth. Simple, honest truth."

The cripple glanced up at him, the look on his face making it clear he didn't believe a word of it. "Yeah, truth truth truth. Just like the others. Why are you so focused on it? It happened, like, weeks ago. The big rags have to all printed by now."

"They have their stories printed, yes" the president admitted "But I'm not just some newspaper president. I broker information, both publicly and for…more pertinent sources."

"You're a broker?" That finally caught the stranger off guard "Wouldn't have seen that coming."

"Yes, Mommy and Daddy were very disappointed" the president admitted with a rare sincere smile "But this story isn't for the papers, or for others. This is strictly personal."

"Personal?" the guest finally seemed to be listening "Like, what, kind of personal?"

"The kind of personal that wants to know what happened to their family, wants to try and understand, protect them from harm the best they can, even if it's too late" the president told him "I supposed you could sympathise with that."

The cripple paused, then placed the box of lemon drops down on the coffee table next to his injured leg.

"So, if I do this for you, you can do a little something for me?" he asked "Is that what you're saying?"

"Of course" the president nodded "And I have a feeling I know what you'd like in exchange."

The stranger leant back in his seat, puffing his cheeks out in thought. "Alright. Where do you want me to start?"

The president in turn learnt forward in his chair, chin propped up on his hands. "December 30th, 1931. The transcontinental express from Chicago to New York, The Flying Lancer, leaves Chicago's Union Station at 9am sharp."


	2. Two brothers make a discovery

**Chapter Two**

"Two brothers make an unfortunate discovery, as friends are welcomed home"

 **Near Hunterstown, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **07:00**

Several hours from New York, most people were still in bed. The few that were awake were preparing for the new years celebrations about to take place that evening.

That was, except for a select few, who were crowded around a set of railroad tracks that made up the main route from Chicago's Union Station to New York's Grand Central.

A car made it way up the dirt tracks to where a group of local police officers were crowded around something on the ground. Parking far enough back from the track that an unscheduled train couldn't swipe it, but close enough to the officers that the car's occupants wouldn't have to trek through the thick snow too far; the car – the high of modern opulence in New York and other such cities – came to an unsteady halt after slipping through the partially-disturbed snow the last few meters. Out of the car stepped two FBI agents, almost identical in appearance besides the red and blue scarves they wore respectively.

"So how bad is it?" the agent in the red scarf – Hikage Fuma – asked the group of officers.

All signs seemed to indicate not good. Half the officers were green in the face, the others unnervingly pale, even for the cold weather. One officer was crouched by a water tower, throwing up his breakfast.

"Bad" was all the most senior officer there could say, before he lifted up the blanket covering the shape on the floor so he could show the agents, but baring the sight from his already traumatised officers.

Hikage had been a Pinkerton then an FBI agent since he came back from the war, but this was by far the worst injuries he'd seen a corpse take. All that was left was the torso and a single leg, a few inches of bone sticking out from the red blobs where the arms and remaining leg used to be. The man – probably a man – appeared to have been wearing a black suit before his unfortunate demise, but most of it was stained through with blood or torn off him now.

"This is the most intact one we've found so far" the lead officer admitted.

"Where's his head?" the second agent – Tsukikage Fuma – asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"200 metres up the track" the lead officer told him, dropping the sheet over the body again "Along with a leg and an arm. Haven't found the other arm yet. There's also another leg but it's not from him, obviously. Or else we've discovered the first three-legged man."

Humour to cover trauma. Typical for those responsible for body-retrieval, even hardened officers.

"So there's more than one?" Tsukikage frowned. Mass suicide? Serial killer leaving his bodies on the rails? But surely that would provide a cleaner cut than this butchery.

"It's hard to tell, since they're all ripped to pieces" the officer told him "But we reckon it's in the teens."

Hikage's eyebrows climbed up into his hair. " _Teens_?"

He shared a looked with Tsukikage. No wonder their boss had insisted they turn up to what appeared to be a bog-standard suicide-by-train.

"We've been in communication with Adams County, trying to count torsos" the officer explained, his own face turning slightly green now "They could go further back than there. We don't know yet. Someone's trying to raise Maryland but god knows those guys don't rise early."

"And they were all along the track?" Tsukikage frowned "How often do trains pass through here?"

"Not much" the officer confirmed "Just The Flying Lancer last night. The morning coal train was the one who found them."

"So they were all hit by The Flying Lancer?" Tsukikage shook his head "How could they hit that many people not notice? Were they hijacked?"

"No" the officer shook his head "The train went the whole night giving the ok signal – no problems on board whatsoever."

"Or, rather than the training hitting them, these guys all jumped from the train" Hikage pointed out "That would've been a nice suit this one's wearing. Like a first-class dining suit."

"You're saying more than twelve first-class passengers from The Flying Lancer left their comfortable suites to jump and take their chances with the snow?" the lead officer seemed incredulous at the idea.

"That or they were forced off the train at knifepoint" Hikage added to his theory "Where is the train?"

"Stopped in Jersey" one of the junior officers now chipped in "They're swapping all the remaining passengers to another train to get them into the city."

"We'll have to talk to everyone on the train, have someone lock down the station before they can leave" Tsukikage decided "Come on, there's nothing for us here. Let's go."

The Pinkertons walked back to their car, jumping inside it in an attempt to escape the cold and gore.

Hikage sighed and lit up a cigarette. "You think we can do it?"

"Do what?" Tsukikage turned the engine on with a sigh, rubbing his free hand against his coat to keep warm.

"Cover up something of this scale?" Hikage gestured to the officers.

"Depends on how badly they want it covered up" Tsukikage shrugged "What about the lady?"

"We have to confirm her whereabouts next" Hikage told him "God, this is a mess."

Before they could leave though, Hikage jumped as a loud knock sounded at the window. He rolled it down, much to Tsukikage's disappointment, to find and out-of-breath fresh-faced officer standing at it.

"We-We have survivors!" he panted.

The Fuma brothers looked at each other, alarmed and shocked. Someone had survived the jump? Plus hours lying in the snow?

"Get in!" Hikage demanded, the young officer clambering into the back seat of the car just as Tsukikage peeled out of there.

"Where?" the driver asked.

"Four miles that way!" the officer pointed north-east in the direction the train had gone.

The drive took longer than they would've liked, the car struggling in the deep snow, but they eventually arrived to find a crowd of officers and two nurses positioned on a snow drift near the track, created by the legs of a large water tower.

Hikage jumped out of the car whilst it was still moving and scrambled up the bank to the top. He was absolutely flawed by who he saw one he was up there.

Half-buried in the drift was a young man in a suit, one leg attached only by bone and a few little strings of muscle and the corresponding arm completely missing. He appeared to have blacked out from the pain, but small trickles of blood in the snow around him indicated he was still alive. Holding him was a young woman, very much alive, her only injuries being some patches of skin peeled away from her back, arms and legs. She had probably been wearing a party dress, but it was mostly torn away by now.

Said young woman was glaring up at the stunned crowd.

"Well, are you gonna help him or are you just going to stand there and watch him bleed to death?" she demanded "I don't think you've realised this yet, but I'm in a really foul mood today, and I could kill you all right now, but that would be counterproductive at this point. So, get a stretcher, get my brother on it, and I'll consider not stabbing you all with this knife," at this she held up the knife that had been sitting in the snow next to her "when we get to the hospital. Crystal?"

* * *

 **Grand Central Station, New York, New York**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **10:30**

"I'm telling ya, I can't wait to see it."

On the upper level of New York's grandest but not most central station, five people were sat around a set of tables in a café. They hadn't all intended to arrive together, but they all knew each other, and were waiting for people from the same train, so they decided to wait together.

The one who had made the statement was Yaiba Todo. The long-haired man had both arms folded behind his head, leant back in his chair and looking so comfortable he could fall asleep right then and there.

"The Flying Lancer, you mean?" his male companion, Hokuto Shijima, asked as he took a sip of his tea.

"Yeah" Yaiba nodded "I heard it's the grandest, most beautiful thing ever made on American soil."

"Oh, it definitely has been called that" Reiji Akaba, sitting at the table the boys had pushed theirs against agreed, wrapping his scarf around his shoulders a little more to protect him from the cold "It's also been called sleek, modern and extravagant. My words for it would be extortionate, ostentatious and gaudy."

"Man, I don't even know what half those words are!" Damen Lopez, a latino man who'd crossed paths with the boys several times before, laughed as he spun his empty beer bottle around the table with his hands.

"Well now I really wanna see it!" Yaiba rocked back and forth in his chair excitedly.

"You're out of luck there, boy" the fifth member of the group approach the table with a new pot of hot water for her tea. Masumi Kotsu sat down with the grace of a gazelle but more channelling ice queen than cute animal "Just heard. The Flying Lancer suffered a breakdown. They're moving all the passengers onto another train to shuttle them here."

Yaiba's jaw dropped with horror. "WHAT?!"

Several people looked in his direction at the distraught screech that left his mouth.

"Eh! Muchacho! What the hell?!" Damon yelped, his ears ringing as Reiji just sighed with embarrassment.

"You're making a scene!" Hokuto hissed, glaring at Yaiba.

"Yeah, it's the back-up carriages, so you'll see them" Masumi finished her statement before she'd been interrupted so rudely, not fazed by the outburst in the slightest "But they'll be towed in by a _real_ sleek modern engine. An electric one, which is far less obnoxious."

"Aw man!" Yaiba fussed, clearly disappointed "Oh well." He looked over at Reiji. "Who are you meeting here Reiji?"

Reiji took the offered hot water from Masumi to top up his tea, then took a sip before he answered Yaiba's question. "My family's travelling in on the express. I want to introduce them."

"To us?" Hokuto seemed surprised, and a little touched.

Reiji smiled. "To each other, actually. My father adopted my brother after he and my mother had separated and my sister had already left home. Now Ray is married and expecting her first child, I thought it would be smart for us all to meet for the first time. She and her husband are coming in from Chicago, my brother from San Francisco. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already met, if informally, on the train in."

"Aw, good for you man!" Damon slapped Reiji on the shoulder with delight, surprising the older man slightly "I really gotta get the familia back together some day, you know? How hard is it to smuggle in a family of Guatemalans to New York anyway?"

Hokuto sat up, wiped his mouth and put on his best businessman face. "Well-"

He didn't get any further into his sales pitch than that, as at that moment, half the café's population stood up and walked out, all heading downstairs towards the station.

"Guess it must have arrived" Masumi stood up "Come on, I don't trust those idiots to find us if we don't meet them at the platform."

The five of them moved downstairs to the platform, where by the time they got there, the train had already come to a halt. They waited as the doors of the, admittedly very pretty, carriages opened, only for them all to get a nasty shock when they opened.

The second and third-class passengers seemed to be fine, but the riders in the first-class carriages were a whole different story. Those in light-coloured clothes could be seen to have blood splattering on them. All of them looked traumatised, eyes wide and bloodshot, faces drawn and pale. There were one or two children were crying.

"What kinda of breakdown was this?" Yaiba questioned "Did they derail or something?"

Just as they were are wondering this, a pair dismounting from one of the carriages got their attention.

"Ow! Ow! OWW!" The boy was whining, half leaning on the girl next to him "Ow! Yuzu, could we go a bit slower? Everything is killing me! Ow! Ow!"

The very large man following them seemed to be rolling his eyes in exasperation.

A repetition of "ow"s followed the pair off the train and along the platform until they were lost in the crowd.

"What do you think happened to them?" Hokuto questioned.

"Hey guys!"

Before they could ponder that, Masumi and Hokuto found themselves rushed by two of the dismounting passengers. Unlike the others, this couple still had big smiles and sparkling eyes.

"Hokuto and Yaiba and Masumi and DAMON!" the boy hooted with joy, letting go of Hokuto to now tackle an equally joyous Damon.

"Yugo! It's been too long!" Damon laughed.

"How was California, Rin?" Masumi asked, smiling at the girl who had hugged her.

"Warm, but dirty" Rin admitted now hugging Yaiba "It's great to be home."

"We got your letter!" Yugo cheered "And a present for Masumi's birthday too!"

"Oh, you didn't need to do that" Masumi insisted.

"No offence man, but you look like hell" Damon admitted, looking Yugo over. Up closer, he could see what appeared to be a few bruises on his skin and his clothes were a little torn up. Rin's too.

"What happened in there?" Reiji asked, searching the other doors with his eyes from his family disembarking.

Yugo laughed again, patting Reiji's shoulder, but it seemed more weary this time. "Live long enough and we'll tell ya!"

* * *

 **Near Columbia, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **11:00**

As further down the track, police were unearthing bodies from the snow, just a few miles north-east, an oblivious young lady was on a fishing expedition.

She wasn't fishing for fish, exactly. Instead, she was knee-deep in the Susquehanna River, fishing out crates.

She wasn't alone. Three others in two boats were helping her to collect the crates and get them ashore to the waiting truck.

As she looked across the river to see if she could spot any other crates, she saw a piece of wooden framework used to rest the crates on the train on floating downstream. But what got her attention was the girl wearing an evening dress floating on top of it.

"Hey!" she called, waving her arms frantically "HEY!"

The girl, who appeared to be unconscious, sat up a little, blinking at the young lady by the bank in confusion.

"You ok?!" said young lady called to her.

Another blink. A small nod.


	3. Two delinquents spread mayhem and joy

**Chapter Three**

"Two delinquents spread mayhem and joy across the united states"

 **Near Bridgeport, California**

 **Monday 30th November 1931**

 **14:00**

Several miles off the beaten track, and even further off the non-beaten track, there was an old mine set into one the massive mountains that made up the spine of California. The residents of the nearby towns and villages, including the soon-to-be famous ghost town of Bodie, had already dug out most of the mountain and come away empty handed, but two intrepid hooligans were determined to have a go at it anyway, certain that they would succeed and strike it rich when so many hundreds had failed.

Well, one hooligan and his minder, as Rin would like to have you know. But then again, she let Yugo drag her the whole length of the country on a whim without much more than an aggravated sigh, so she loses some points there.

The Rin in question had just reached the part of the mine that she and Yugo had taken over for their 'base'. It was a small hut built into the mountain as a rest stop for miners who needed a tea break in the dizzying darkness that remained even at the height of daylight. Ducking under the hammock stretched across the cave, she placed the items she'd retrieved from town at the base of the mount of dirt that Yugo was enthusiastically hacking away at with his trusty pickaxe.

Poor guy, still so certain after so long that he'd make that one smash that found the gold. Sort of like looking at those old people who had put their money into the lottery every week since their first pay check but had yet to receive much more than a hundred back, but still insisted on doing it hoping, or praying, to retrieve their lost millions, all while muttering how you have to 'be in it to win it'.

Rin, for the record, found this phrase about as inspiring as Yugo's 'if we haven't found it yet, that means there's a bigger chance we'll find it tomorrow!' saying.

"Rin! Rin!" Yugo grinned at her, bouncing back and forth on his heels as he continued to swing away at the rock face, even as he was looking at her rather than it "I found a centipede today!"

"A centipede? In a mine?" Rin was trying to remember if centipedes buried underground during the winter. If they did, she'd had to remember to stop letting Yugo leave half-eaten food lying around. "You know, in the orient, they say finding a centipede is the god of gold mining? That has to be good luck."

"Wow, I didn't know that!" Yugo seemed blown away by this revelation "Yeah! That has to mean we're going to hit it lucky soon Rin! I feel it! I believe in the noble centipede!"

"Well we might've gotten a little lucky already" she leant back against the hammock, holding up the one thing she didn't expect to collect on one of her rare journeys into town "Yaiba sent us a letter."

Yugo instantly stopped and threw down the pickaxe, jumping up onto the hammock to read over Rin's shoulder. "A letter! Awesome! What does it say?"

Rin smiled a little; alright, maybe some of his enthusiasm for life was rubbing off on her.

"'Dear Rin and Yugo, I can't believe it's been nearly a year since you decided to go off mining-'"

"We're not mining!" Yugo insisted indignantly "We are thieves!"

"Yes we are" Rin nodded along with the words she was so use to hearing him say.

"We are stealing gold from the very earth itself!"

"Yes we are" Rin again nodded along before continuing reading the letter "'While I don't understand why you're digging for gold when everyone else seems to be panning for it-'"

"Bah!" Yuto spat "Everyone pans and everyone fails! We are successful thieves, not losers! We must go against the grain! As the saying goes 'a wolf does not become the leader of his pack by following other wolves!'"

' _Pretty sure that's exactly what they do_ ' Rin couldn't help but think, but there was no point in ruining Yugo's fun "'but we wish you all the best and want you to know we miss you very much.'"

"Aw" Yugo's face went soft after his determined rant "I miss the guys too. It really has been a while, huh?"

"'In fact, we miss you so much, we're hoping you could come visit us in the city sometime. It's Masumi's birthday after the new year and we're really hoping you come visit to celebrate it. She's feeling a little melancholy at the moment, what with Hokuto and Damon so busy working now and me working on my promotion to camorrista. I'm sure a birthday treat from her best friends is just what she needs right now! Hope to see you soon, Yaiba.'"

"Hey Rin, what do melancholy mean?" Yugo asked with an anxious frown.

"I think it means sad" Rin told him, not entirely certain herself.

"She's sad without us?" Yugo's face fell "And she needs a treat from us for her birthday to cheer her up?"

"I guess that one's way of interpreting it" Rin turned her had sideways, trying to figure out the meaning of the words exactly "It could also mean us being in New York for her birthday is the birthday treat. But we should probably still get her a birthday present."

"We should get her the most expensive present ever!" Yugo declared, bouncing up and down dangerously on the hammock "To show her just how much we love her!"

"Well, at the moment we can't even afford _a_ present, let alone an expensive one" Rin reminded him, already trying to calculate how they'd made it across the continental united states in just over a month with no money or provisions.

"Hmmm…you've got a point" Yugo admitted, scratching his chin in thought. Then Rin physically saw the lightbulb above his head go off "I know! We'll just have to commit a train robbery!"

Rin was stunned silent by this idea. Surely Yugo didn't think the two of them, without so much as a gun between them, having never robbed anything more than an unlocked grocery store before, could pull off a train robbery.

"And exactly how would we commit this train robbery, Yugo?" she decided to ask.

"Well," Yugo jumped down from the hammock so he could look her in the eye "We first take the train to somewhere. Then we commit a robbery. And then we take the train again to escape!"

As flawed as his logic was, it also wasn't a bad plan. Certainly more feasible than an actual train robbery.

"You know what, that isn't a stupid idea" Rin admitted "It's actually quite brilliant."

"All my plans are brilliant, Rin! Just like yours are!" Yugo declared "And we know the best people to steal from!"

Rin felt a grin creeping across her face. "You bet we do."

They clasped hands and raised them towards the sky.

…or, tunnel ceiling, I guess.

"The mafia!"

* * *

 **Eastside Chicago, Illinois**

 **Tuesday, 29th December 1931**

 **16:00**

Teppei, for the record, had been having a nice peaceful day.

It was not long after Christmas, and he was getting back into the swing of work, manning the fish stall at the market. It was getting towards closing time and the amount of customers had slowed to almost non-existent. So Teppei took advantage of lull to put his feet up and turn on his radio to the broadcast of the baseball game happening around town.

As the game drew on with a more-or-less even score, Teppei watched as the guys in the warehouse opposite loaded up several sacks into the back of a car. He pretended to ignore them, just like everyone else in the market was doing. They all knew what was in those sacks. Just because Capone had been taken down earlier that year did not mean organised crime had stopped – others would always step up to take his place.

Just as it sounded like the Yankees were about to score a home run on the radio, Teppei was distracted from the terrible news by something even more unusual that the Yankees doing well against the Black Soxs. Two people, a man and a woman, dressed as baseball players in Red Soxs uniforms came running up behind the car being loaded. The two then, in unison, raised their baseball bats and brought them down on the heads of the car's waiting driver and loader.

Teppei couldn't even bring himself to move. He just sat there, stunned, the baseball game no longer registering in his brain as he watched the man and woman run down the street, holding their hats and bats with one hand, sacks with the other.

"Make way! Get out the way!" the girl yelled.

"Don't mind us!" the boy chipped in "We're robbing the rich to get presents for the poor!"

"Since when was Masumi poor?"

"No but we are!"

The two took off in a whirl of wind and dust, little green bills spilling out of their sacks as they ran.


	4. Many strangers board a train

**Chapter Four**

"Despite the worries of a frightened tomato, many strangers board a train"

 **Chicago's Union Station**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **07:00**

The Flying Lancer had originally been built nearly twenty years earlier for use in Europe, taking travelers from the tip of Italy to the wilds of Norway to the rock of Gibraltar to the lowlands of the Netherlands. However, the outbreak of World War One had put those grand plans on hold. Instead, the engine remained in America, and had been refitted for use as a luxurious transcontinental express service. It wasn't as fast or clean as the new, modern electric engines, but Ray felt that nothing was better than a good old-fashioned steam engine.

She was certain Zarc would agree with her too, but he was too busy quarreling with the freight loaders.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Quite positive sir" the poor man Zarc was ambushing at the moment was remarkably calm in the face of the frantic passenger. Ray had to wonder how often he dealt with nervous passengers worried about their luggage.

"There's no chance it's damaged at all?"

"No sir, we were very careful."

"And will there be someone guarding it?"

"The conductors on board have been notified that it must be minded, sir."

"But they don't know what's in it."

"No, of course not, sir. Your privacy is of our upmost importance."

"And there's not chance something could set it off?"

"Nothing short of an explosion, sir."

Ray sighed. This was quite a fuss from the same guy who, not two days, had been whining to her about being reduced to a glorified, if very overpaid, courier. The same man who basically told his boss where to stick his new toy that he wanted transporting to the big apple, and only agreed to the minor task of making sure it got there because, as Ray pointed out, they were going to New York anyway. Why not get an extra bonus for sitting back, relaxing and letting the staff do their job? Honestly, men and their pride.

"Come on, honey" she sighed, grabbing Zarc's arm and dragging him away from the freight cars "You're going to make us late."

"But Ray-!" he startled, spluttering slightly.

"Zarc, I swear you are more stressed about this baby than I am – and no, I'm not talking about the stupid package" Ray sighed, wrapping her arm around his now to keep a firmer told on him, her other hand fluttering to her still flat stomach on instinct "Stop taking it out on the nice man. Now come on, the first-class carriages are up front on this train, remember? And we have to get unpacked."

"But the-!" Zarc was still continuing on his attempted outburst, gesturing with his free arm back towards the freight cars.

Ray stopped and forced him to stand still, grabbing both his wrists and shooting him a frustrated glare.

"Zarc, I love you and you're going to be a great father" she told him "But at the moment, you are being a terrible husband."

Zarc froze, then seemed to relax for the first time since he got up this morning. "Alright."

"All calmed down now?" she smiled.

"Not really" he admitted "I really wish I didn't have to bring something so dangerous on this train you guys are riding on."

His hand seemed to gesture towards her stomach a little at 'you guys'.

"Come on, Zarc; you helped build this thing" she reassured him "It's not going to go off. And, worse case scenario, if it does, we're at the front of the train. The two of us will be fine. We're going to go to New York and you finally get to meet my little brothers. Now," she began pulling him towards the front of the train again "I'm starving. And you do not want a hungry pregnant woman angry at you."

Zarc laughed nervously. "Amen to that."

* * *

At the back of the train, amusing named the caboose, an elderly man in a conductor's uniform stepped off the train with a relieved sigh.

"Hey! Chojiro!"

Chojiro turned to see a young man, also in a conductor's uniform, running across the platform, red hair swept back by the wind blowing into the station and a big grin on his face. "You're as energetic as ever I see."

"I can't believe I finally get to ride such a beauty!" the young conductor whistled in appreciation "You getting off here, old man? You're missing the best part!"

"I'm on my break until next week" Chojiro confirmed "Pity it couldn't have been over Christmas, but at least I get to ring in the new year with my family. You and Roger will take the train on to New York and back."

"Well all good for you" the young conductor laughed "I'm gonna be in Times Square to watch the ball drop!"

Chojiro chuckled, clearly reminiscing about something. "Someday, you're have a girl and a family of your own, Dennis. Then you'll understand."

"Understand what?" Dennis cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Why I'm going to be stepping down after the season ends" Chojiro told him.

Dennis' face fell. "What?! You can't retire, Chojiro!"

"I already told the company about it" Chojiro told him, taking off the young man's white conductor hat off his head and brushing some dirt off of it "I just don't have the energy, or the enthusiasm for it anymore. It's a young man's game now." With a smile, he put the now clean hat back on Dennis' head. "The rails are ready for young men like you."

With a small wave, he walked past Dennis, then waved again as he passed the other conductor due to ride the train, who insisted everyone call him by his surname Roger.

"Bye Chojiro!" Dennis called back to him "Don't worry! We can handle it from here!"

As his eyes followed Chojiro down the platform, he was distracted by the sight of a beautiful dark-haired young woman standing near the freight cars with a violin case and a bank expression on her face.

Dennis took off his hat and laid it against his chest, letting a whistle of air out of his lungs. "Now that is a good-looking doll right there! You don't see that everyday!"

"Come on" Roger scowled, all but pushing Dennis into the caboose "You'll unsettle the passengers."

"I'm not unsettling!" Dennis insisted, but got onboard the train anyway.

As Chojiro walked down the platform, he met the eye of a young boy sitting in the first-class dinning car. On instinct, Chojiro smiled and waved up to the boy. The boy blinked, then raised his hand to wave back. Before the boy got the chance though, an arm reached from between the carriages and pulled Chojiro out of view of the platform.

* * *

"Wow! Look at all these people!" Yugo's eyes had practically popped out of his head when he saw the massive train positioned by the platform "Are they all on the same train as us?!"

"Most of them will be riding in the other classes, Yugo" Rin reminded him, brushing down her newly bought dress. With the money they had alleviated from the Chicago mob yesterday, they'd been able to buy some more clothes (though, granted, letting Yugo buy them may have been a mistake), as well as two first-class tickets on the fastest train out of town with enough bills left spare for their lodging once they got there and a present for Masumi "We'll be in first-class, which will be fairly empty."

"Oh, right" Yugo nodded "Hey look! There's going to be an orchestra on board!"

"A what?" Rin frowned and followed his gaze to the freight cars. Standing around it were a group of men and one woman in black, all carrying instrument cases "Oh, you're right. A black-tie orchestra. I don't think they're performing though. Just going from one city to the next between performances."

"Aww, I like music" Yugo whined.

"It's only twenty-four hours – you'll be asleep for most of it" Rin pointed out "And I'm sure there'll be plenty of entertainment on board."

"Alright!" Yugo cheered "Do you think they're an orchestra too?"

"Huh?" Rin turned to see who Yugo was looking at now. Up at the front of the train, by the second-class carriages stood another group of people, but this time all in white. "I don't think so. Wonder why all the white. A wedding party maybe?"

"A wedding?!" Yugo cheered with delight "That means expensive presents for Masumi!"

Rin's face brightened. "Exactly! The perfect payoff for our train robbery!"

"I thought we already did the train robbery and now we're escaping?" Yugo frowned with confusion.

Rin blanched; she hadn't wanted him to figure that out yet. "Er…yeah, that's true isn't it. So, we'll just have to get Masumi more presents from the train! She deserves lots of them!"

"Yeah!" Yugo cheered.

"Unless it's not a wedding – they don't seem to be carrying any presents" Rin pointed out "But why all the white then?"

"Hmm…I bet they didn't want to get their white suits dirty in the city, so they saved them for the train home!" Yugo declared "I bet that means the carriages are super clean then!"

"Well, it's not entirely impossible I guess" Rin admitted, checking their tickets to see what carriage they were in. This train was very confusing – third-class seemed to be where first-class normally was on a train and vice versa.

"I know! I'm being so smart today!"

"Yes you are, sweetie."

"ALRIGHT!"

The sudden enthusiastic shout from Yugo caught the attention of almost everyone on the platform, including a young man in coveralls with one hand on the rail leading up to the first-class carriage. He froze for a second, scanned his surroundings. Then, when he decided he wasn't being watched, jumped up onto the train.

* * *

At the freight cars, a young man in black named Allen Kozuki with his troupe of musicians was negotiating with a railroad official, unperturbed by any audience.

"Some of our orchestra are going to have to ride in the freight car with our instruments" he explained "They're very important to us, you see, and we can't afford to have then broken or stolen."

The freight loader Allen had come across was a good deal less unphased by the attention of the first-class passengers than his colleague that Zarc had pulled up was. "I-I-I'm afraid I can't allow that sir. It's company policy, see-"

"Don't worry, I already got the permission I needed" Allen told him, holding up a piece of paper to the man's eyes "See, it's all there. All sorted out. I just need you to leave them a spot, that's all."

The young man seemed a bit dazzled by the important piece of paper, but nodded nervously anyway. "Of course sir! Right away sir!"

* * *

As this was all going on, a few feet away by a large pillar, a group of unusual characters was loitering near enough to the freight cars to hear the conversation going on.

"Oh no!" one of the boys, who had a large tattoo down the side of his face, gasped "That means there'll be guys in the freight car all night! Which means we'll be seen! Which means that we can't get to it! Which means we'll never be able to get the money to pay off these tickets which means we'll all go bankrupt and have to eat Noburu to survive and I don't want to eat any of my friends-!"

"Relax, genius" one of the two girls, the one with an eyepatch over one of her blue eyes and a burn scar running down the side of her face and arm, reassured him "The package we want is in a different freight car. We won't ever have to go near those musician guys."

"Are you sure?" the boy asked, practically biting his nails with worry.

"Yuya, we already checked it a dozen times" the other girl, this one a short ginger with curly hair, reassured him as she checked over what appeared to be a railroad uniform "It's in the restricted car – no one goes in or out unless they're a railroad employee. Stop worrying – worse case scenario, you have a whole day of kicking back and relaxing on the greatest train in America to come up with a plan to get in there without being spotted by any wayward musicians. Or to come up with a new scheme to pay for the tickets."

"And the rent" the other male in the group, a large heavyset man, chipped in "Don't forget about the rent."

"Meiru, stop playing with your costume" the eyepatch girl reached over to stop the ginger from touching the uniform again "I spent ages re-sizing it – it's fine."

"Well I'm the one who's go to pull off a heist in it" Meiru informed he a little sulkily "You guys get to chill out the whole way while I'm serving snotty rich dudes champagne."

"We needed someone with railroad credentials" the eyepatch girl pointed out "I did offer to do it myself."

"Oh please don't fight!" Yuya waved his arms between them, like he was hoping to wave away any bad air that was brewing "I can't think when you're fighting! Please! You're both so scary when you fight!"

"Yuzu, you can whip up a bomb anywhere out of anything, I'll give you that" Meiru admitted "But you can't make a martini to save your life. Noburu wouldn't even fit behind the bar and Yuya-"

The three of them looked up at Yuya, who was now beginning to pace as he stressed about angry demons possessing them.

"Yeah, no" was all Yuzu could say in agreement.

"If all else fails, I could just punch everyone in the freight car out" Noburu pointed out, a mischievous little smirk darting across his face for a second.

"Oh no! Noburu, no!" that worked Yuya up to new levels of stress "Noburu, you can't! You'll get killed! No Noburu, don't get killed! Noburu! _NOBURU_!"

* * *

Up the platform by the second-class carriages, Yuya and his group were not the only ones to be taking note of the black-dressed orchestra. A young man in a white suit and fedora was also paying attention to them.

"What you look at that" he remarked to the group "A black-tie orchestra. Ah…I always did like the contrast of white to black; don't you think it's so…serene, my dear sister?"

The woman in a white dress stood next to him folded her arms and shot him a look of death. "I hate white."

"Come on, don't be like that" the man tried to playfully scratch her cheek, only to find his hand in a death grip "You know why we're in white, sister."

"I know why _you're_ in white" he smartly informed him "Why the hell the rest of us have to look like a church choir I put down simply to idiocy."

"Well not all of us can get our kicks out of just literally kicks" the young man sighed, now turned to a dark-haired man beside him "So, Jacob, anyone I should be paying any…special attention to?"

"There's the senator's daughter and her husband over there" Jacob pointed out the pair entering the first-class dinning car ahead of them "Other than that it's just oil tycoons and fat businessmen."

The young man licked his lips. "Such beautifully prepared livestock, ready for the slaughter."

"I could be eating _real_ slaughtered livestock right now" the man's sister retorted "Instead of standing here looking like a red-light lady and freezing my ass off."

"We needed a lady's delicate touch" her brother pointed out.

The sister looked at the two girls standing next to her, then shot him an unimpressed look. "Call me delicate again and I'll show you a _real_ lady's touch."

"Sister, haven't you always said you wanted me to take you to New York?" the young man pointed out "Is that not what I am doing right now?"

"Yes" his sister admitted "The skimpy dresses and fountains of blood are a surprise."

"Boss! Boss!" a man, clearly older than the rest of the group, came running up to them, holding up a conductor's uniform "Look what I found!"

The young man didn't seem all that impressed, an expression mirrored by the rest of the group. "You're trying too hard, Doctor. Don't try hard."

* * *

The Flying Lancer left Union Station at exactly 9am with 232 passengers, two drivers and two conductors on board, setting off towards Indiana.


	5. Friends swap ghost stories and food

**Chapter Five**

"As the train gets underway, friends swap ghost stories and Chinese food"

 **Near Parkersburg, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **17:30**

Yuya was not ashamed to say he spent most of Wednesday hiding in his suite. It wasn't cowardly at all, as he told Yuzu and Noburu enough times to burn his tongue on the words. He was supposed to be committing a train heist – he didn't want to be remembered by being out in the open all the time.

Ok, so maybe Yuzu had a point as she argued that hiding in his suite all the time would make him even more memorable, but Yuya was blocking out that little argument and instead focusing his brain on not having a complete panic attack.

Eventually, hunger got the better of him as Yuzu refused to bring him any more food from the dining car, forcing him to actually attend dinner. He was reassured only by the fact they only had about twelve hours to go before they'd be getting off and he'd better actually go and thank the man who had tipped them off and gotten Meiru the temporary job behind the bar of the dining car.

"So it really is there" he tried to confirm that the reason they were all there did indeed exist, and this wasn't some long-drawn prank or something.

"Shh!" the chef, Michio, leant across the bar Yuya was sitting it to whisper to him "I can't talk about 'that' out in the open!"

"It's in the kitchen, or not at all" Meiru informed Yuya, polishing a shot glass with a towel.

"But I can't go in the kitchen!" Yuya pointed out. He lowered his voice and leant forward so only Michio and Meiru could hear him "But it is what we came for, right?"

Michio quickly glanced around the dining car, then decided that they were alone enough that the topic could be discussed in a whisper.

"I haven't seen it myself" he admitted "But the rumour is that it's a new type of bomb, created by the US government."

"Why the heck are they transporting it on a passenger train then?!" Yuya whispered back, eyes wide with worry.

"How best to keep its moving route a secret?" Meiru pointed out, examining the shot glass she had been polishing "If Michio hadn't heard the freight guys talking about it and tipped us off, no one on the train would even know about it."

"And it's not guarded at all?" Yuya frowned "That doesn't sound very safe."

"If they put guards up, everyone would know that something valuable was on board" Meiru reminded him, moving onto another shot glass.

"But what if it goes off?!" Yuya fretted, hair reaching up to yanked at his hair.

"Then it'll be a blast" Yuzu remarked with a grin on her face, walking up to the bar and sitting down on the bar stool to Yuya's left.

Michio seemed taken aback by the joke, but Meiru just laughed. "That's just Yuzu for you, she _loves_ explosions."

"I can tell" Michio remarked, eyes naturally draw to the girl's extensive burn scars.

"Stop worrying" Yuzu clapped Yuya on the shoulder "As long as I'm here, we'll be able to steal it. And if push comes to shove, I could always whip up a little something in a pinch."

"That's what I'm afraid of" Yuya admitted.

Before Yuzu could come up with a retort though, they were interrupted by a pair of laughs from the end of the bar.

Sitting at the L-bend of the mahogany bar top were a couple positioned in front of what looked like every piece of Chinese food in the Eastern United States. Even more unusually, they were dressed up as a saloon girl and a cowboy – lasso and all – respectively. Regardless, they were clearly having the time of their lives.

"What's up with them?" Yuzu asked with a frown "They get lost on the way to the costume party?"

"Oh them" Michio rolled his eyes "Movie stars I think. All they've done is order Chinese food, all evening."

"Really?" Yuya looked at them strangely "I don't think I've seen them before."

"Hey, go introduce yourself" Yuzu patted him on the shoulder.

"WHAT?!" Yuya's voice echoed around the dinning car, getting the attention and ire of everyone present.

"Come on, it'll be good for your self-esteem" Yuzu reassured him.

"I don't think I _have_ any self-esteem" Yuya admitted, head practically down on the bar top.

"Exactly" Yuzu all but pushed him off his seat towards the couple "Go on. I'll be watching."

Shoulders hunched and clearly uncomfortable, Yuya moved to stools down, until her was next to the couple.

"Um…hello there" he all but mumbled.

Apparently the couple heard this, as they both looked over at him.

"My food!" the boy insisted, surging forward to cover some of the plates with his body.

"Yugo" the girl sighed in exasperation, then turned to Yuya with a smile "Hi there! I'm Rin and this is Yugo."

"My name's Yuya" Yuya kept mumbling along, not meeting Rin's eye "Those are…nice costumes."

"Oh these" Rin picked at her saloon dress, seeming a little irritated now "Well, we were supposed to be saving them for New York, but _someone_ " at this she glared at a sheepish Yugo "Split wine all over our perfectly good outfits."

"Oh, sorry" Yuya ducked his head even further, if that was possible.

"Whoa!" Yugo finally sat up and paid attention to who had sat down next to them "He's got a tattoo right down the side of his face!"

"Yugo!" Rin facepalmed.

"No, it's okay!" Yuya tried to reassure her "Everyone says that! It's fine!"

"Are you, like, a movie star or something?" Yugo asked.

Yuzu and Meiru had to hold back laughter at the irony.

"What? No! No I…liquor!" Yuya stuttered out "I sell liquor!" He shrank on his himself even more, if that was possible "I'm just a regular old bootlegger! A regular delinquent! I'm nothing!" With that his head hit the bar top. "I'm sorry!"

Rin and Yugo looked at Yuya in concern, then at each other. Their faces broke into twin smiles.

"Chin up old boy!" Yugo cheered, jumping up from his stool to grab both Rin and Yuya round the shoulders "There's no need to be glum! We're on the most awesome train in the world, with amazing food escaping from a successful train robbery! So come on! Dig in and cheer up!"

"I hope you like Chinese food" Rin smiled, pushing a plate of chicken chao main towards Yuya "It's all you can eat!"

"No it's not!" Michio insisted.

* * *

A few cars down the train, the boy in coveralls manoeuvred his way down the corridors, doing his best to dodge conductors. He tried the door handles of several suites, only to find them locked.

Finally, a handle gave way under his hand. One of the second-class suites was empty.

With a happy sigh, he closed the door behind him and pulled out the bed. Lying down on the covered mattress, he pulled a blanket from the cupboard, lay down and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Near Morgantown, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **20:00**

"Seriously, there are no vegetables on this train, at all?" Yuzu stared at Michio in disbelief, picking at her sweet and sour chicken.

"Only green beans" Michio confirmed.

"That cannot be healthy" Yuzu wrinkled her nose.

"They don't care about being healthy" Michio pointed out to her "They care about fast service and getting from one place to another as quickly as possible."

"Actually, Yuzu, there are plenty of vegetables on this train" Rin chipped into the conversation.

"Don't tell me this train is transporting vegetables too" Yuzu looked at her disbelievingly.

"Well, sort of" Rin explained holding up a piece of beef on her fork "See, cows eat vegetables, right? So every time you eat beef, you're eating vegetables."

Yuzu blinked. "I-I didn't know it worked like that."

"I know, right?!" Yugo cheered, throwing an arm around Rin's shoulder "God, you're so smart, Rin!"

"See, the way I figure it, if you pick up a bag, then everything in it is yours, like all the money and stuff" Rin explained "So food should work the same way, right?"

Yuzu looked at her partner, not sure whether she should be disbelieving this or not. Yuya was sat with his chin leaning on his hand, a relaxed smile on his face. She sat back and just nodded politely – Yuya was enjoying himself with this unusual pair and she wasn't going to do anything to spoil that. She hadn't seen him enjoy himself in a long time.

"There's no way that's right!" Meiru, on the other hand, didn't see it that way "Now all I'm gonna taste when I have beef if yucky grass! Thanks for ruining beef for me, lady!"

Michio seemed taken aback by the blatant lack of manners from someone who was technically supposed to be working, but Rin didn't seem to mind at all.

"Yeah, but now you're grow up to be a big strong man…woman, I guess" Yugo told her "That what Rin says, anyway, and she's really smart."

A little blush crossed Rin's cheeks at the remark.

Yuya let out a laugh, stuffing a large piece of chicken in his mouth in an appalling lack of manners worthy of Yugo.

Just as he was about to chew, a small boy ran past him an accidently ran into him, causing him to choke.

"Sorry mister!" the boy apologised "Are you going to be alright?"

Yuya just made a series of gagging and choking noises, the sound of Yuzu's worried voice fuzzy in his ears. Just as he thought he was going to pass out, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest and squeeze. Suddenly he could breathe again as the offending piece of chicken was spat out across the bar, landing near a stunned Michio's feet.

"Yuya, are you ok?!" Yuzu voice, almost rising to a shriek, was now much clearer as the danger had passed.

"Yeah…I think so" Yuya managed to cough out.

The little boy grabbed the end of Yuya's shirt in worry, eyes welling up with tears. "I'm so sorry mister!"

"No tears now, come on, no harm done" an unfamiliar voice from behind Yuya told the little boy.

Yuya turned in his seat to look at his rescuer. The man behind him was dressed in a camouflage jacket and trousers and was outfitted with an army hat. Yuya tried not to choke again as he realised that the man who had saved him was most likely the courier of the very package they were here to steal. Talk about coincidence.

"You always have to be the hero, don't you Zarc?" a young lady with reddish brown hair in long pigtails approached the group, taking a seat at the bar stool next to Yuzu.

The young boy though had started crying.

"Hey! Hey, it's ok!" Yuya rushed to reassure him now he'd recovered "Like the nice man said, no harm done!"

"I'm sorry!" the boy just kept sobbing though.

"Come on now, let's dry those tears" the young woman got off her stool and wrapped her arms around the boy in a hug "You didn't mean any harm. What's your name?"

"R-Reira Akaba" the boy choked out "I'm going to visit my family in the city."

The young woman mouthed the word 'Reira' several times, shared a look with Zarc in disbelieve, and then her face broke into a huge smile. "Well Reira, it looks like you get to may some of your family early. Before I got married, my name was Ray Akaba."

The boy, Reira, stopped crying, glancing between Ray and Zarc in wonder. "You're my…family?"

"Yes!" Ray laughed with joy.

"We ended up on the same train?" Zarc scratched his head "That one hell of a coincidence. Don't supposed we're going to run into your other brother here as well?"

"Reiji should be waiting for us in the city" Ray told him.

"He's going to pick me up from the station" Reira confirmed, suddenly having a revelation "He can pick us all up together! Do you think he knew?"

"If Reiji's anything like I remember, he probably planned it this way" Ray laughed "Come on, let's get something to eat."

Yuya almost felt bad for them and hoped they wouldn't get in trouble for loosing the package they were planning to steal. He hoped even more that the nice man who had rescued him didn't realise it was _Yuya_ who'd carried out the robbery.

As Ray returned to her seat, Reira and Zarc sitting on the stools to her left, everyone turned their heads to the end of the bar where a little squeal of delight was heard. It had apparently come from Rin, who was hugging her clasped hands to her chest, eyes watering a little and a delighted smile on her face.

Yugo was crying happy tears. "I love a family reunion!"

"So you're all going to New York?" Yuzu questioned, looking at Zarc and apparently coming to the same conclusion as Yuya had "Must be hard to get time off from the military during the holidays."

"Well, let's just say my father is very…persuasive" Ray admitted "Since this was the last time we could meet before Reira went back to school. After all, I'm not exactly going to be in a position to be travelling much by summer." Instinctively her hand reached to her stomach.

Now it was Meiru's turn to squeal, all but launching herself over the counter at Ray, as if Michio's departure back to the kitchen had freed her from acting responsibly entirely. "Oh my god really?! Wow! I'm so excited for you!"

"Congratulations" Yuzu added, but in a much calmer tone of voice.

"Thank you" Ray blushed under everyone's delighted cheers.

"Why are you crying now?" Rin questioned, looking at Yugo, who was sobbing even harder now "It's good news."

"I'm just so happy!" Yugo tried frantically to wipe his eyes "I can't help it!"

Everybody began laughing at his expense, exchanging names and introductions until everyone was acquainted.

"Hey, you're going to be an uncle, little guy" Yuya pointed out to Reira, leaning forward in his seat so he could see the young boy "That's great, right?"

Reira nodded, joy sparkling in his eyes. "Yep. Sorry for causing you trouble before, mister."

"There's no trouble!" Yuya reassured him again, trying not to feel guilty for the fact he was reassuring the little brother of a pregnant woman who husband they were planning to blatantly rob. If anyone was causing trouble today, it was him.

"Yeah, you don't want to be causing trouble on this train" Rin added "Or the Rail Tracer will gobble you up."

Yugo nodded, a conspiratorial grin on his face.

This cause them to receive several confused looks.

"The…Rail Tracer?" Yuzu frowned "What's that?"

"Yeah, I've never heard of it before" Yuya admitted.

"You haven't heard of it?" Yugo questioned with a laugh "You'll be getting gobbled up first then!"

Rin cracked her knuckles, a creepy grin spreading across her face, vaguely spooky music starting up in the background, although Yuzu and Yuya couldn't see anyone in the carriage playing it "Allow me to explain."

* * *

In the caboose at the back of the train, the two conductors were sat alone, staring out the back of the train at the railway tracks disappearing into the darkness, the only light a lamp clamped to the outside of the cab.

"It's like a huge monster that comes chasing after trains" Dennis told the other conductor, his voice taking on the air of a man telling ghost story to a crowd of scared children "Shrouded in darkness, the entity can change shape into anything, like a man on horseback or even another train. Then little by little, it gets closer to the train, until it finally catches up."

"So what happens when it reaches the train?" the other conductor, Roger, asked, but sounded a little exasperated by the whole thing.

"All the people start to disappear" Dennis told him, leaning further forward in his seat as he got more and more into the story "It starts at the back of the train. One by one, people turn up missing, until every soul on the train is gone. And then as the empty cars are still rolling down the tracks, the train vanishes!"

Roger snorted dismissively. "That's ridiculous."

"But you know what's even more frightening than that?" Dennis went on, seemingly stoked on by Roger's causal dismissal.

* * *

"There's something even more frightening than that?!" Yuya was all but squealing, so tense he looked ready to fall of his stool is a strong enough wind blew him over.

"The thing is, whenever you tell this story to somebody else abroad a train, then that's the train that gets taken next" Rin went on, expression becoming more and more sinister as the story went on "Another victim of the Rail Tracer!"

"RAWWW!" Yugo was apparently so into the story he jumped to his feet, arms raised as if they had claws and bellowing like a werewolf or vampire from a film.

Yuzu only just held back a yelp of surprise, but Yuya didn't even try and outright _screamed_ in horror.

"This is it, I'm gonna die!" he cried, head in his hands "We're all gonna die! Oh god! We're all gonna be wiped out!"

"Calm down there, scared-y pants, there is one way to stop the Rail Tracer from swooping down and swallowing our souls" Rin told him, remarkably blasé about the whole thing.

This didn't exactly inspire hope in Yuya. "There's only _one_ way?"

* * *

"Yeah" Dennis kept going with his story "But it's a little tricky."

Roger held up a hand to stop his colleague's ramble, checking his pocket watch with the other hand. "Hold up. It's time."

He reached over to the wall and flicked the switch there three times. Outside, the lamp on the outside of the caboose flashed three times, a reassurance to the drivers that all was good at the back of the train. If ever the lamp didn't flash at a designated time, then the drivers were to assume the worst and stop the train, evacuating everybody off. It dated back to the days when men would ride up on horseback and board the train from the back to rob it, but was still in use now as a way of checking there was nothing either mechanically or physically wrong with the train or its occupants.

* * *

Further up the train, Allen Kozuki was holding a mirror up to the window, and caught the three flashes of the lamp at the end of the train in it. He immediately stood up and began knocking on the doors of his fellow orchestra members down the corridor of the first-class carriage.

* * *

"Ok, so there is one thing you can do it be spared" Dennis tried to continue again once Roger was done with his duty.

"You know, I think I've heard a story a bit like that one before" Roger told him, a small smile on his face

"Then maybe you and I should be swapping survival secrets" Dennis joked.

"My story isn't quite as complicated as your" Roger told him "It's about Lemores, the ghosts in our world."

* * *

"It's time to begin" Allen address the group in front of him, consisting of eighteen men in dark suits as well as one woman in a black dress and another in a dark purple one "Don't forget the plan and stay in groups of three."

The various group members glanced at each other, memorising who was in their groups.

"We no longer have blood relatives" he reminded them all "All we have is our allegiance to Mr Shun Kurosaki, who to this day, remains locked away from the world for unjust crimes. As Lemores, it is our sole duty to ensure this horrific act of so called 'justice' is to be abolished, and Mr Kurosaki set free from his chains." He raised in chin in determination. "Consider what it means to call yourselves ghosts. We are no longer afraid of death, nor life. All fears of the flesh are things of the past, for we all became ghosts during our living days."

* * *

"So, what do we have to do?" Yuya whimpered, head still half-hiding behind his hands.

Rin looked ready to finish the story, then paused in thought. "I…I don't remember. Yugo?"

"I wasn't listening" Yugo told her "There was food."

"Of course you weren't" Rin sighed.

"What do you mean you don't remember?!" Yuya all but shrieked.

"I forgot, like Yugo said, there was baby sandwiches" Rin shrugged "Guy seemed like a creep anyway."

"Well who told you the story?!" Yuya demanded to know, jumping to his feet, hair on ends.

"The redhead" Rin told him after a pause for thought "The young conductor on the train, when he punched our tickets."

"That's it!" Yuya went running out the dinning cars towards the back of the train "I have to find him and find out how we can all be saved from the monster!"

"Great, now you've set him off" Meiru grumbled, wiping down the bar top where Yuya had split his drink in his hurry.

"I'm sorry about that" Yuzu rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment "Stories like that just get him all jumpy, you know?"

"Of course" Ray laughed "Zarc's no better."

Zarc began squawking with horror, which sent the bar back into laughter again.

* * *

"Think of this is as a ritual" Allen told his followers "A ritual designed to bring about the release of Mr Kurosaki. And this train is our alter. The people aboard it, mere sacrifices. Do not forget that."

* * *

"There is said to be a great leader among these ghosts, these fighters for true justice" Roger explained, his voice sounds bitter "Then the feds arrested that man on trumped-up charges and now the government is doing its damnedest to stop anyone from talking about him, covering it up."

* * *

Yuya, in his mad dash, had cleared one second-class carriage and was crossing to the next when he ran into a wall.

Not a wall of brick or plaster though, but a wall of muscle, that was joined to the head of one Noburu Gongenzaka, who had been about to join them in the dining car.

"Whoa! Yuya!" Noburu grabbed his friend by the shoulders, preventing him from pushing past Noburu and continuing on his mad dash down the train "What's wrong? You look like the devil is chasing you."

"This is terrible!" Yuya just screamed in his face, tears streaming down his face "Everybody on this train is going to die! I have to find the young conductor!"

He finally succeeded in pushing past Noburu, slamming the door to the next second-class carriage behind him.

Inside the suite next to the door, the boy in coveralls awoke with a start at the sound of the screaming and door slamming so near him, automatically reaching for his bag and the door handle, ready to make a break for it when the coast was clear.

Noburu just stood there, fingers clenching and unclenching where Yuya's shoulders had been moments ago. "What?"

* * *

"The remaining ghosts came up with a daring plan" Roger continued the story "They would have to take people hostage, including the family of a powerful senator, and use them as bargaining chips to secure their leader's release."

He stood up from his seat now, a big grin on his face. Dennis squirmed a little, half sliding out of his own seat.

"Tomorrow, our great teacher will be questioned by the New York Judiciary" Roger now grinned maniacally "And now all this train amounts to is a sacrifice to our glorious leader."

* * *

"You must have faith in your actions!" Allen announced to the Lemores in his cabin "You must believe that your actions will contribute to the release of Mr Shun Kurosaki!"

* * *

Yuya was now running down the corridor of the final second-class carriage. As he ran, he didn't notice somebody step out of their room into his path.

"I'll be back!" the man called back to someone in his suite before Yuya barrelled into him, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Sorry!" Yuya yelled back over his shoulder in apology.

The man grabbed Yuya's arm before he could get far, forcing him to a halt.

"Watch where you're going!" the man growled at him.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean too!" Yuya insisted, wrenching his arm out of the man's grasp "You see, everyone here is in grave danger, so I was in a hurry! I need to find the conductor because I think he can help!" He took off running again. "I'm sorry, I've gotta go!"

As Yuya fled the carriage though, he was in such a blind panic that he didn't hear what the man he'd ran into said next.

"Hey, aren't you…?"

* * *

"Back to your question" Roger now removed a revolver from the inside pocket on his jacket, where Dennis liked to sneakily hide cigarette sometimes, levelling it with Dennis' forehead "How can you be spared?"

Roger let out a mirthless laugh as Dennis tried to step back away from the gun, become pressed against the cab's wall.

"Thing is, everyone who hears this story dies" Roger admitted, cocking back the hammer as Dennis' eyes went wide with horror "So, my poor boy, there is in fact, no way for you to be spared."

A few moments later, a gunshot ran throughout the caboose, before being lost in the night.


	6. Some white suits plot a malicious deed

**Chapter Six**

"Some white suits plot a malicious deed in earnest"

 **Near Cheat Lake, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **20:15**

As Yuya and company were having fun in the dining car, down in second class, a pair of siblings were waltzing to music playing on a gramophone; one with joy, then other looking like she was about to murder her partner.

"Isn't this such a wonderful night, Serena?" the boy declared delightedly "Truly a perfect evening."

"No, a perfect evening would be me, alone, back in Chicago, listening to that lovely new wireless I bought" Serena retorted "Or alternatively in a fight to the death against a dozen men who look suspiciously like you. Both options are kinda appealing right now."

"That's it, dear sister" her brother beamed with delight "Channel that murderous rage – you'll be needing it tonight."

"Yuri, the only reason I haven't stabbed _you_ yet is because you promised me blood and shiny things" Serena informed him flatly "I like shiny things, especially when I can use them to buy myself more things I deserve. If they come covered in blood, then no one's around to whine about missing them."

Yuri now grabbed Serena by the chin, forcing her to lean in so their faces were not even inches apart. "That, my dear sister, is why I love you."

The clock on the mantlepiece rang out, indicating it was quarter past the hour.

"It's almost time, which means it's almost time for their lives to end" Yuri was practically shivering with delight "I don't think I'll sleep a wink tonight!"

"Well, if you're _that_ excited about it then you probably should've gone first" Serena pointed out smugly, know the effect this statement would have.

Yuri's eyes went icy as he flew into an impressive sulk. "I can't. I lost the draw. And if I pull rank now, I'll have _three_ angry sisters who hate me, two I'm not even related to."

"If you're that scared of them, I guess I'll have to protect you from their fury then" Serena joked.

"Really?" Yuri raised an eyebrow "Two minutes ago you were threatening to kill me, now you want to protect me. How very indecisive of you, dear sister."

Serena scowled at him. "No, I do want to kill you. But first I have to kill everyone who might stop me, or take issue with me about it later. Then I'll gladly spend the rest of your life killing you slowly and painfully. Which will probably not be for a while yet."

"Why, Serena, if you keep talking like that I'll start blushing" Yuri seemed touched at this admission.

"Until then" Serena suddenly switched their positions in the waltz and all but forced Yuri into a dip that was more of a chokehold than a dance move "Don't you even think about letting someone else kill you. I'm the one who's had to put up with your sadistic ass of these years, I'm the one who gets to end it."

"And to think, Mommy called _you_ the nice one" Yuri just smiled up at her.

Before Serena could unleashed any more death threats, the door of the suite opened to the face of one Gloria Tyler.

"If you two are done flirting" she remarked cheekily "Grace is practically chomping at the bit to get started."

Serena simply let go of Yuri, letting her brother drop to the floor in an ungraceful heap. Not that Yuri seemed to care, as he covered his eyes with one arm and pounded his other fist against the floor of the carriage. "Damn it, I envy Grace, I really do! There is no god in this cruel, cruel world anymore!"

"Great, now he's having a temper tantrum" Serena sighed with exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Grace went and killed him earlier, I just know it!" Yuri continued to whine, banging his fist on the floor at a practically staccato rhythm.

Serena and Gloria exchange a look before Serena decided to end this tomfoolery once and for one. "Well, how about, instead of bothering me, you actually go and see what's going on out there?"

Yuri paused, then jumped to his feet with a joyful grin back on his face. "Of course! I agreed she could take the lead, but I could still go with her! And if someone just so happened to jump in the way of my fist, then so it is! Brilliant! And here I was thinking I'd have to behave myself!"

He tried to ruffled Serena's hair, only for her to duck and slap his hand away for his effort. Yuri just shrugged it off, picked up his jacket and left the suite.

"I'll be back!" he called back to the girls, just in time for him to be barrelled into by some guy running in the corridors.

"Sorry!" the man…boy maybe?...squeaked in apology.

Aggravated at the intrusion, Yuri grabbed the idiot's arm before he could get far, forcing him to stop in place for one second.

"Watch where you're going!" Yuri warned him with a death glare.

He'd intended to follow this warning up with some genuine threats as to what would happen to this moron who thought running around the corridors was a smart idea, but before he got the chance to, the other guy started rambling at him.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to!" the man, who had a large tattoo down the side of his face, insisted, wrenching his arm out of Yuri's grasp in an impressive show of strength. "You see, everyone here is in grave danger, so I was in a hurry! I need to find the conductor because I think he can help!" He took off running again. "I'm sorry, I've gotta go!"

For a moment, Yuri was taken aback. This kid wasn't a part of his crew, so how would be know about the mission? Had somebody squealed?

But as he sifted through his mental catalogue over who could've spilt the beans, an image kept coming to mind in his head. In Chicago, a wanted poster hung on street corners. A man with a tattoo, wanted for an extortionate amount of money.

"Hey, aren't you…?" Yuri paused to think about it for a moment, then trusted his judgement "It must be." He leant back into the suite to talk to the girls. "I'll go after Grace and the others. You dolls head back to the conductor's compartment. And if you see some skinny kid with a tattoo, snatch him will ya?"

He began heading up the train towards the dining car, a calculating grin on his face.

"This just got a lot more interesting."

* * *

On the connecting platform between the first two second-class carriages, Noburu was still just stood there, hands still clenching around the air Yuya's shoulders had taken up only a few seconds ago. He was so surprised by the events that had just taken place that he almost forgot to move aside for a young man in coveralls who wanted to move between the carriages. He muttered an apology and stepped to the side, allowing the man to cross the connecting point to the next carriage. The man then held the door open for two women Noburu knew well to come through as well.

He wasn't quite to surprised to see Yuzu – if Yuya was having one of his panic attacks it was usually Yuzu who was left with the task of calming him down. However he was surprised to see Meiru, who was supposed to be serving diners in the dining car, last he checked.

"There you are, we thought you'd fallen off the train, you were taking so long" Meiru joked.

"You seen Yuya?" Yuzu asked, seeming a little resigned to the whole matter.

"Yes, he ran that way" Noburu pointed over his shoulder "He was screaming about the conductor I think."

"Noburu, come with me, we're going to go and check out the freight hold before we bring Yuya back in" Yuzu sighed, then turning to Meiru "Meiru, while we're doing that, you take care of the dining car."

The two proceeded forward down the train, leaving Meiru stood there, a little uncertain about what to do.

"Take care of the dining car?" she wondered aloud "You mean, keep serving them or…"

' _Meiru, while Noburu and I check out the freight hold, you go to the dining car and make sure everyone's okay._ '

"Possibly that's what she meant" Meiru frowned, so distracted she didn't notice a woman in white passing her and heading up the train "Or maybe…"

' _When we're doing the robbery we can't let anyone know or they may cause a scene, possibly even stop the train. So Meiru, I need you to head to the dining car and make sure the people in there stay quiet, you got it_?'

"I got it, boss!" Meiru declared, hand reaching into the pocket of her coat where she kept one of her knives "Nice and quiet for you."

* * *

In the dining car, a blonde woman named Grace Tyler was practically squealing with delight, overjoyed at having been given such a pivotal role in the hijacking. She remembered what her sister had said though – make sure everything and everyone is as they should be, or else the whole job could go sideways and Mr Yuri would probably go from wanting to kill everyone on the train to wanting to kill her.

With that knowledge in mind, she began assessing the carriage, her eyes dancing from person to person as she wondered who she should kill first. Not the senator's daughter or her husband; she'd been lectured on that one for so long she was falling asleep just thinking about it. The boy who was sitting with them was probably off limits too – Yuri liked to deal with the children personally. Maybe the wanna-western couple sat near them, or the chef standing behind the bar waiting for orders? The bartender had left her post, which was a shame. She could probably let out some amazing screams.

There was only one person who gave her cause for concern – a young man in coveralls, sat by himself in the corner of the carriage. He was suspiciously on guard to the point of overcaution and seemed increasingly uncomfortable every time he met Grace's gaze. That was a man who didn't belong, and he set Grace just a little on edge.

Still, he was one man. What could he do to stop her?

The clock began chiming, just as three men in black with violin cases stood up from their table and left the dining car towards the first-class carriages.

"Well then" Grace's face broke out into a grin "I guess I better get started then."

She reached into her white coat and pulled out two revolvers, pointing them in opposite directions up and down the car.

"Alright, hands in the air!" she demanded.

However, her demand was partially lost in the sound of two sets of people entering the carriage from two different ends, both demanding different things.

"Everyone on the ground!" a man in a black suit, one of the three who had left just moments earlier, stormed into the room from the first-class carriage, brandishing a tommy gun. His two fellow suit wearers were just a moment behind him.

"Nobody move!" the ginger bartender now burst in from the second-class carriage, wielding a distinctly less impressive pocket knife.

The three hijackers just stared at each other, blinking uneasily as they wondered what to do. The passengers just looked between all three, torn between being scared out of their minds or wondering if this was a pantomime for their entertainment.

The only ones who had moved were Zarc, who had thrown himself over Ray and Reira like a protective blanket, and Yugo and Rin, who had raised their hands and hit the deck before not moving from that position, something that made an odd amount of sense under the circumstances.

"Well…which one should we do?" someone in the carriage finally had the courage to ask.

"They're after the senator's daughter!" somebody else yelled "You take her! Go on! Just leave us be!"

Nobody moved or said anything after that, the hijackers more concerned with themselves than any outbursts from frightened passengers.

Meiru looked at the hijackers, then at the passengers, then at her little knife.

Well, Mama Hochun had always told her one thing – pick your battles wisely.

This was not a wise battle at all.

"Um…sorry for the confusion" she stuttered out, before hastily exiting the dining car and slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Yuya had finally find it to the caboose, but wasn't exactly jumping for joy at what he found there.

Instead of two perfectly healthy conductors, he discovered one corpse with half its head blown off slumped in the corner and another with what looked like one of its arms and part of its face missing lying in the middle of the floor. Both were wearing conductors uniforms.

Yuya very nearly threw up, shaking in fright.

"I'm too late!" he gasped "It's already here! And it's already started killing people! The Rail Tracer is here!"


	7. Yuri laughs, sings and murders people

**Chapter Seven**

"Yuri laughs, sings and murders people a lot"

 **Near Bruceton Mills, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **20:30**

Yuri was running along the second-class carriage, practically skipping in time with the gunshots ringing out from the dining car ahead of him.

"It's guns!" he cheered "I love guns!" He listened carefully as the revolver shots switched to machine gun shots. " _Machine_ guns? That's even better! This is going to be so fun!"

As he reached for the door handle, he was almost knocked over for the second time within the same ten minutes, this time by the ginger bartender, who appeared to be fleeing the dining car in a panic.

"I'm sorry boss!" she was crying "You didn't say the situation would turn out like this!"

Before Yuri could say anything, she had already fled out of sight.

"Sounds bad. Sound like danger" Yuri grinned, breaking out in singsong as he continued on his way. "Danger. _Danger~_. What's happening in the dining car~? Is there blood? Who's killing who? Did they get shot? I have to see~! Things are really starting to get exciting~!"

* * *

In the dining car, all chaos had broken out.

Grace had turned both her revolvers on the black suited men, shooting one in the chest and catching another in the shoulder. As one fell and the other grabbed his shoulder in pain, the final man raised his tommy gun and cut Grace down before she could get another shot off.

In the all the confusion, the young man in coveralls opened the window and slipped out of the car, clambering into the gap between the bottom of the carriage and the rail track like a trained acrobat.

At that moment, Yuri made it into the dining car. Rather than being greeted by Grace standing on top of a pile of bodies, he instead was confronted with the lifeless bodies of Grace and a man dressed in black, with two more black suited men pointing machine guns at him.

Well, he was nothing if not flexible.

"Gentleman, please do not be afraid" he told them, raising his hands up in surrender "I can assure you I am completely unarmed."

"Is that so?" the leader of the three men still seemed uneasy, as if he sensed something was very off about this guy "Who exactly are you, anyway?"

"Although we may be strangers, we are not enemies" Yuri reassured them, walking towards them with his hands still raised.

"Answer me!" the man demanded, walking forwards towards Yuri also with his gun raised.

"I can assure you, I am just a regular passenger on this train" Yuri told him "And I am completely-" once he was close enough to the man's gun, he kicked upwards, forcing the neck of the gun into the air "UNARMED!"

With the man caught off guard, Yuri reached forward and pushed the neck of the gun 180 degrees backwards, then pulling the trigger. Instantly a litany of bullets riddled the man's wounded colleague behind him, dropping him like a stone.

Yuri then kicked the stomach of the man who's gun he'd just used, forcing the man to let go of the gun and drop to the carriage floor.

"You're a dead man, pal" the man spat up at him.

"You're just like all the other mobsters out there!" Yuri laughed "They all think something special's gonna protect them."

The man leapt to his feet again, grabbing a knife from his shoe and swiping at Yuri with it. Yuri effortlessly dodge the swipe and punched the man in the stomach with an uppercut for his trouble.

"Nice try, slugger" Yuri didn't even seem fazed in the slightest.

As soon as the man was back on his feet again, Yuri followed his punch up with a serious of punches to the face.

"Come on, put your dukes up" Yuri baited him, punching him all the while "You've got no technique!" Before the man could fall over, Yuri seized him by the front of his jacket, forcing the man to remain upright. "So you're still conscious, huh _pal_?" The word slipped off his tongue like it disgusted him to say it. He now let go of the man's jacket and grabbed him by the hair instead. "I guess I have to work on my right hook. Are you trying to make me look bad?"

Despite the wounds to his face, the man still managed to rasp out: "A man like you will never be able to stop Shun Kurosaki. He'll come for you for this."

Yuri simply just let the man drop on his face.

"I don't give a rat's ass about whoever Mr Kurosaki is" he informed the gravely injured man "Whoever you guys are, all I know is that you're now my newest enemies." He then knelt over the man's body. "You people are all the same." Turning the man onto his back, he began his barrage of punches again, even though the man was now down. "Oh yeah! Now we're on a moving train, no one can stop us! We're invincible and unbeatable! We're so strong, but we'll still bring our own guns!" Yuri's face broke into a grin again. "You morons are my absolute favourite people to kill!"

Finally, blood splattered across the carriage, and the man breathed no more.

"What the hell is this?"

Yuri turned from his kneeling position over the fresh corpse, wiping blood from dripping into his eyes to see two of his own people had entered the dining car with shotguns.

"We heard machine gun fire and we come to find you like this?" Emma told him, Jacob checking his shotgun was working by firing a round into the ceiling "What the hell is going on?"

Yuri waved her concerns off with a laugh. He instead approached the group huddled at the bar.

"You're Senator Akaba's daughter, right?" he asked the young lady with pigtails.

Before he could say anything else, the man in army fatigues protecting her leapt to throw a punch which Yuri easily caught.

"Easy, easy" he talked the man down "We're not going to harm her. You just saw what I did to a guy much bigger than you; do you really think you stand a chance?"

The man in camouflage, whom Yuri recalled was probably Zarc Drago – husband of one Ray Drago née Akaba – just glared at Yuri with enough hate to burn right through him.

"Relax, I get it" Yuri tried to reassure him "You're protecting your wife. I get it – if some weirdo who just punched a man to death tried to talk to my sister, I'd probably try and put him down too. As it happens, you have nothing to worry about though. We're gonna finish off these guys in the black suits first, then we can go about sorting out a ransom, just in time for you and your wife to waltz off the platform at Grand Central without a hair out of place." He dropped the man's hand and wiped his bloody knuckles on a table cloth. "It's been a pleasure, Mr Drago."

He stepped over Grace's body, picking up her two revolvers on the way out.

"Time to go, crazy kids" Yuri told the other two in white, ushering them out of the dining car.

"Go? What about the rest of them?" Emma protested.

"Just leave 'em" Yuri shrugged "Where are they gonna go?"

As the trio left, Reira watched after them with a calculating stare.

' _I can use these guys_.'

* * *

Up in the first-class carriage, the Lemores were gathered in Allen's suite again, processing the news that had been delivered by the young lady in the purple dress sent to check on the sounds coming from the dining car.

"So, anyone here have any idea who these brunos in the white suits are working for?" Allen finally asked the question everyone was wondering about.

"No sir, ain't got a clue" one of the men, Spencer, admitted, shaking his head.

Allen sighed and turned to one Devon Knox. "In any case, call back anyone who isn't six feet deeper than the rest of us."

As Devon nodded and left to locate the remaining Lemores, Allen sighed and turned back to the group.

"Maybe we should think of this as another trial?" he suggested, but even he didn't seem sold on it.

"I don't think anyone could say what it is at this point" Spencer pointed out.

"I suppose you're right" Allen sat back in his seat, wishing he wasn't in charge of this rescue mission.

As Allen pondered where it had all started going wrong, the young woman in the black dress, who had been leaning against the wall up until now, got up and began walking towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going, Ruri?" Spencer questioned her.

She merely looked back at the man over her shoulder before heading out of the suite.

"You're just gonna let her walk out?" Spencer questioned.

"Leave her alone" Allen insisted "She'll do what needs to be done. Besides," He folded his arms behind his head, "She won't live past tomorrow."

* * *

Down in second-class, a remarkably similar conversation was taking place.

"So, Yuri" Emma got everyone in the rather cramped suite's attention "Who do you think the guys in the black suits running around out there are?"

"They are a special treat, I think" Yuri announced, wiping his bloody face with a handkerchief "We each get to kill two or three of them a piece! And the fact these guys think they're so superior with their fancy weapons is going to make it even sweeter."

Everyone began laughing or chuckling at the idea of rampant bloodshed.

"Now, back to work" Yuri choked the shotgun Jacob had handed him "It's too risky for us to stick together. So we're split up. After midnight we'll all meet up here for a celebration."

Everyone approved of this idea.

* * *

As all this carnage and bloodshed was going on, Yuzu and company had made it to the freight hold. As they scrambled to check on the package they had come for, they missed the sight of a red creature scrambling across the window, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.


	8. Yuya Sakaki cries a lot

**Chapter Eight**

"Yuya Sakaki cries a lot and musters valiant courage"

 **Southside Chicago, Illinois**

 **Tuesday 29th August 1931**

 **23:00**

In a lonely back alley in a desolate part of the city, three gangsters had cornered a teenager in an alley.

The teenager, identifiable by the large tattoo down the side of his face, was at a clear disadvantage, as he was unarmed when the men surrounding him, who he was fairly certain were from one of the leading gangs in the city – Morans? Capones? Fusers? Did it make a difference? – were all armed with handguns.

"Ok, hold on" the teenager held up his hands and backed up against the wall of the alley, trying to look at unthreatening as possible "How should I put this? I have an idea! One where nobody gets hurt! That's a great idea! We could just settle this thing peacefully! Right?"

He received three unimpressed stares in return.

"Damn it! Ok! Put the guns down! You don't need them!" the teenager now tried "Ok guys, you've scared me enough! Besides, I don't even have a penny to my name right now! So sorry about that!" Tears started streaking down his face. "I just-just!" He now burst into sobs. "Oh my god I sound so pathetic!"

One of the gangsters looked at his backup. "Hey, are you sure this punk is the one we're looking for?"

The second gangster pulled out a wanted poster – clearly the guy in the drawing was this kid.

"I had my doubts too, but how many people have a tattoo right down the side of their face?" the gangster pointed out.

"Well his crying's really spoiling all my fun" the third gangster complained "I don't kill crying kids."

"Hey kid" the first gangster got their target's attention.

"Yes sir?" the teenager whimpered out.

"Your crying bothers us" the gangster informed him.

"It's a nervous condition!" the teenager insisted, attempting to dry his eyes "It's not crying!"

"Crying like a girl" the second gangster turned his nose up in disgust.

"I said it's not crying, you dumb jerks!" the teenager insisted.

The first gangster sighed in aggravation, grabbing the teenager by the collar and placing the barrel of his gun right again the kid's temple. "Alright, we're gonna talk, or else you're in a hurry to get your head blown clean off. Now, tell me what your name is."

The teenager just stuttered, random syllables escaping him in unintelligible burst.

"Just settle down there" the gangster told him "And take it nice and slow."

"Y-Y-Y-YUYA!" the teenager finally spluttered out "YUYA SAKAKI, OK!"

All three instantly recognised the name

"I never would've guessed it" the third gangster commented "First you go and get half the Kurosaki gang locked up, now you're causing trouble for the Fusers? You've got a death wish kid."

"I'm actually kinda disappointed by this" the first gangster remarked "Two leading Chicago gangs being ruffled up by _this_? It's pathetic." He cracked his gun over the top of Yuya's head, causing the teenager to crumple to the floor. "You've been running all over our town like the goddamn mayor, so I was expecting a little more fight than this."

He lashed out and kicked Yuya in the stomach.

"That's not fair" he protested "You guys are in a completely different weight class."

This got him a second kick to the stomach, which caused him to curl up on his side on the ground.

"You guys are all just the same!" Yuya was back to sobbing "All we did was start selling some liquor, and you kill eight of our people!"

A third kick was now dispensed.

"The Kurosakis got what they were asking for" Yuya coughed up some blood from his throat "And when the Fusers went and tried to do the same thing, we thought they could do with a little less money, that's all."

"You just don't know when you quit, do ya?!" the gangster yelled, a fourth kick now making contact as a train whistled past behind him.

"Stop!" Yuya insisted "You guys gotta put your guns away quick! They won't take mercy on you if you don't! I'm trying my best to make sure you don't get killed."

"You mean to make sure _you_ don't get killed, right?" the gangster just smirked.

"No! No I really don't wanna kill you!" Yuya insisted "Hear that, Noburu? Just wait a little bit longer, that's all! Any second now they're gonna put down their guns, I swear!"

Before anyone could react, a massive hand reached around the first gangster and grabbed both his hand and the gun. With a tight squeeze and wail of pain, both the gun and hand were bent beyond repair. As Yuya covered his ear and shut his eyes, the other two gangsters turned to leave, only to come face-to-face with the wall of bulging muscles that was Noburu Gongenzaka, as well as a small army of street rats and delinquents.

"What's going on here?!" one of the gangsters demanded.

"What are you waiting for, an invitation?!" the first gangster wailed, having not seen the small legion of death glares behind him "Shoot him! Shoot him now!"

The two gangsters then fell backwards, two knives buried in their foreheads.

"M-Meiru!" Yuya yelped "Not you too! Guys, stop it! Everything's fine! There's no need for that!"

"So" Yuzu Hiiragi then pushed to the front of the group, the gleam in her remaining blue eye particularly menacing in the light of the lit bomb attached to a knife she was holding "You feel like a big man now, huh?"

Before the gangster could comment, Yuzu handed the bomb to Meiru, who lobbed the knife like an expert into the centre of the man's forehead, his body falling close to Yuya.

Yuya quickly scrambled to his feet, grabbing Yuzu's arm and dragging her behind him as he ran for his life. "RUN!"

The group scattered in different directions as Yuzu whined:

"Come on! I just wanna see what happens next!"

The alley then burst into a beautiful array of fireworks.

"I told them they should've gotten out of there!" Yuya insisted, mostly to himself "I told them!"

* * *

 **Near Bruceton Mills, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **20:30**

"Yuya!" Yuzu pushed open the door to the conductors' cab "Did you find him?"

Instead of getting an answer, Noburu had to stop Yuzu was swaying right off her feet with shock upon seeing the carnage inside the caboose. Standing right in the middle of the bloody mess was Yuya.

"Yuya are you ok?" Noburu left Yuzu against the wall as he rushed to his other friend to make sure he was ok.

"You're both ok!" Yuya let out a sigh of relief as he took in the pair of them "Oh thank goodness! It didn't get you!"

"What didn't get us?" Yuzu finally stepped inside, holding her nerve enough to reach the boys' side "Yuya, who did this?"

"Don't you see?!" Yuya insisted "It was the Rail Tracer! It starts at the back of the train and kills everybody!"

"Rail Tracer?" Noburu frowned "What is this? I've never heard of it before."

"Just a ghost story some couple told us earlier" Yuzu told him "Yuya, there is no Rail Tracer. It's a story."

"Then _what did THIS_?!" Yuya pointed at the bodies in the caboose, voice rising to an incredible pitch and volume.

Yuzu opened her mouth to give a logical explanation, but found she couldn't. "Ok, maybe there isn't a mythical creature called a Rail Tracer. But a messed up guy who decided to act out the story, that's possible."

"You think there's a killer on board this train?" Noburu frowned.

"I don't want to think so" Yuzu admitted "But something did this. Something human, obviously."

"But now the conductor is dead!" Yuya stressed "So now nobody knows how to stop it!"

"It's a human, Yuya" Yuzu strictly told him "Just a regular human killer-"

At that moment the sound of gunshots – handgun followed by machine gun fire – echoed throughout the train.

"Are those…guns?" Noburu questioned.

"Sure sounds like it" Yuzu agreed.

"People are firing guns on this train?!" Yuya's eyes got impossibly wider "Who shoots guns on a train?! They're not hunting! That means, someone's killing people on this train! _PEOPLE_!"

"And perhaps not the same person to who did this" Noburu commented, looking at the bodies "I mean, this poor chap could've taken a bullet to the head, but this guy," he waved his arm at the man missing part of his left side and face "That's no gun. Looks more like some kind of saw."

"That must be the Rail Tracer!" Yuya insisted.

"And then he picked up a gun and started shooting people?" Noburu scratched his head in confusion "That doesn't make any sense at all."

"I don't think it's one man" Yuzu realised "Those were two different types of gun, one after another. Listen."

She pointed towards the front of the train as another spray of machine gun fire rang out.

"That's a tommy gun, no mistake" Yuzu commented "But the first shots we heard were a handgun, like that guy." She pointed at the conductor missing the top part of his head. "That's a close range revolver shot. Two different types of guns – two people shooting at each other."

"There are _two_ killers on this train?!" Yuya shrieked.

"Yeah, your Rail Tracer and some guy with a machine gun" Yuzu nodded slowly "The Rail Tracer starts here, just like in the story. Kills these guys, and starts moving back. But somebody's seen him and started shooting. Someone with a tommy gun."

"But how would they get a machine gun?" Noburu pointed out "A handgun or knife is easy to conceal, but a large machine gun – someone at the platform would see it and never allow it on board. And they surely wouldn't transport loaded machine guns on the same train as a bomb."

"Ok, so they were smuggled on board" Yuzu acknowledged his argument "In the freight hold maybe. That makes sense, if the Rail Tracer starts moving back along the train like in the story, he would reach the freight car next. Somebody grabs a tommy gun back there to defend themselves."

"How would they know there was a tommy gun?" Noburu kept going, the pair used to bouncing ideas between them until they came up with a faultless plan.

"They put it there" Yuzu suggested "It was the smuggler himself that started shooting back. But why would they be in the freight hold…?" Suddenly her eye widened. "Weren't some of those orchestra people riding in the freight hold?"

"Yes, on the platform!" Yuya recalled "They said they had permission to ride there!"

"The instrument cases!" Noburu realised "The perfect way to smuggle weapons! I bet they're not even a real orchestra!"

"They're weapon smugglers!" All the piece started coming together in Yuzu's head "Sitting with their goods, when the Rail Tracer disrupts them! They scare them off – a handgun against who knows how many guys with machine guns is a pretty stupid idea – and run back to first-class to tell the rest of their group! But the Rail Tracer catches up with one of them up there and BHAM! Gunfight!"

"So they're fighting in first-class?" Noburu shuddered "Thank god we're not heading up there then."

"Not exactly a lot of room to fight in there" Yuzu pointed out "In the dining car maybe?" Her eye went wide with horror. "Oh shit! I sent Meiru back up there!"

"She's up there alone with the Rail Tracer and the guys in the fake orchestra?!" Yuya went back to panicking "They'll kill her! She's only got a knife!"

"Yuya, it's okay" Yuzu hurriedly reassured her "We'll get her back, then we can take cover. Maybe there's more tommys in the freight car – we just have to wait it out until we get to Pennsylvania."

"But not just Meiru" Yuya realised "Michio as well. And Yugo and Rin and Zarc and Ray and little Reira! They'll all be killed! We have to rescue them! They're relying on us!"

"Yuya…" Yuzu's voice went quiet. She knew, despite the cry-baby façade people rarely saw past, Yuya was an incredibly selfless person. But sticking his neck out again weapon smugglers and spree killers for some people he barely knew? It surprised even Yuzu.

"There's only one thing for it!" Yuya declared "We have to drive the black suits and the Rail Tracer off the train!"

Well, if Yuzu and Noburu weren't flawed before, they were now. But they could roll with it.

"Ok" Yuzu agreed "We'll find Meiru and as many as the others as well can and hide them in the freight hold with the package. Then we can think about all these guys with guns, ok?"

"We should probably check the package is still there" Noburu pointed out "It may have been moved in all the chaos back here.

Yuya and Yuzu's eyes went wide with horror.

"Yeah, we'll check that first" Yuya agreed "Then we have a rescue mission to complete!"

* * *

"Boss!" Meiru was not ashamed to admit she was wailing as she raced down the corridor of the last third-class carriage towards the caboose and the freight hold "Boss something really weird is happening on this train! It-"

Before she could finish her sentence, an arm clothed in black reached out of a door and grabbed her by the hair, a hand clamping over her mouth and pulling her back into the suite out of sight.

* * *

 **Near Hazelton, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **20:45**

With the black and white suits having left the dining car, everyone was in a state of panic. Some were trying to run, but not sure whether it was safer to follow the white suits down the train or the black suits up it. Others were hiding under tables, praying, crying or doing all three at the same time.

The only ones not panicking were a certain dynamic duo.

"Alright!" Yugo declared, jumping up off the floor and swinging a table knife down in an arc to try and bury it in the table. It merely bounced off the varnish, but it didn't curb his enthusiasm. "We need to find the rest of our posse!"

"Posse?" Rin wondered "Oh, you mean Yuya and Yuzu? That's a good idea – they probably have no idea what's going on. The last thing we want is them running into those goons and getting shot for their trouble."

"Yeah, we're a search party!" Yugo declared "To the rescue!" He began to walk down the carriage toward second-class. "I don't know what's up with all these white suits and black suits and the nice girl with the knife, but I've got guns and I'm not afraid to use them!"

"That's the spirit" Rin nodded, pleased. Then she paused. "Wait. Since when do you have guns?"

Before anyone could hear the answer to that, the door slammed behind them.

Back at the bar, a screaming argument was going on.

"No! I won't do it!" Ray insisted "Not a chance in hell!"

"And when those goons get back, the first thing they're going to do is go after you!" Zarc insisted "You and Reira go hide. When they come back, they'll find me and only me. I can hold out long enough. By now the conductors have probably contacted central command about the train robbery, so by now your father and my boss would've heard about it. In a few hours, they'll have this thing all sorted out."

"I'm not leaving you here!" Ray insisted "They'll kill you!"

"Not while they're looking for you they won't" Zarc pointed out "So you stay alive, and I'll stay alive."

"You don't know that for sure!" Ray protested, tears now streaking down her face.

"Ray" Zarc gently placed both his hands on her face "You told me before that I was being a terrible husband. Well, now I'm being the best one I can be. If they want the package, they can have it. But I am not putting my wife, brother-in-law and child in danger. Now you and Reira go hide."

Ray just seemed to collapse on top of him, grabbing onto him in a death grip as she sobbed. It was finally Reira tugging on her dress that got her to recover again.

"There are some empty suites in second-class" the little boy suggested.

"Excellent" Zarc agreed "You go hide in one of those. And if things get really bad, try and make it to the conductors' cab – they may be able to help you. Go on."

He finally succeeded in pushing both of them out of the door to the dining car back towards second-class and slammed it closed before they could think about coming back in again. Annoyingly he couldn't lock it – the carriages were designed to lock from the outside, not within.

With a sigh, he wiped his brow with his sleeve. "Well this is a mess."

Not a second later, the door from first-class burst open again, and three new guys in black with machine guns arrived. They all instantly locked eyes with Zarc at the far end of the carriage.

"Good evening, sir" the smallest man in the group greeted him "You are Senator Akaba's son-in-law, I presume."

Zarc said nothing, just stared back icily.

"You can call me Allen if you like" the man, Allen, told him "We have a sensitive matter we would like your father-in-law's help with, if it isn't too much trouble. Would you please come with us?"

"Promise me you won't do anything to harm the other passengers" Zarc responded "This is between you and me and the senator. They all just happened to get on the same train as us."

"Well, that really depends upon your father-in-law and the government at this point" Allen admitted "Though I believe we're missing one from this little discussion. Where's your wife?"

Zarc appeared to get teary eyed, his hands shaking, mind quickly running a thousand calculations about what a stupid idea this was.

"What's wrong?" Allen frowned. Surely nothing terrible had happened to their best bargaining chip.

"Those men in white suits" Zarc finally breathed out "They took her."

Allen shared a look with the rest of his group, eyes now flashing in anger. "Who are they?"

"I don't know" Zarc shook his head, then putting it in his hands in fake grief "At first I thought they were looking for both of us, but they only took her."

Allen let a breath of anger whittle between his teeth before he responded calmly again. "My sympathies, we'll try and do something about that. But for now that doesn't change anything. You'll have to come-" Allen paused, then began walking down the carriage towards Zarc. "Wait a minute."

A bead of sweat ran down Zarc's brow. Surely he couldn't have been found out so soon?

But before Allen reached Zarc though, he turned into an empty booth with the window fully open and no one sat there.

"On a cold winter's night? I don't think so" Allen muttered, levelling his tommy gun at the man sitting in the next booth "You! Who opened the window?"

"I don't know!" the man yelped "Some boy wearing fatigues! He just jumped out when the shooting started!"

"Jumped out?" Allen seemed disbelieving. He hadn't felt the train slow down enough for a safe dismount yet.

He stuck his head out of the window in to the cold, peering left and right. If someone tried to jump off at this speed, they'd be torn to pieces. Either the man was dead or a trained acrobat, really. And Allen had a feeling which one he'd put his money on.

* * *

Ruri was walking down the first-class corridor, eyes sharp and alert as always. For a second, she stopped as she swore she saw something scuttle across the window near her.

She threw it open and looked up at the down the outside of the carriage, then towards the roof.

Nothing.

Reasoning that it must have been a bird, she shut the window again and continued on her way.

The boy in coveralls waited for a second to make sure she was gone, then scurried out from under the carriage to the roof and began making his way towards the back of the train.

* * *

Back in the freight car, Devon of the Lemores had caught up with the two men in black in the freight hold.

"You guys seen anything weird down here?" he asked.

"No" one of the guys shrugged "Just our guy in the caboose dealing with the conductor. Why?"

Devon frowned. One guy had the radio turned on static held so close to his ear he probably wouldn't hear a stampede if it was passing. The other was blatantly passed out asleep.

"Some guys in white suits attacked our people in the dining car" Devon told them "Allen wants us all back in first-class."

"And leave the guns here?" the man with the radio, who was named Noro, frowned "Seems a bit weird."

At that moment, the radio crackled to life and a voice rang through, waking up the sleeping guy.

"I want everyone to be on the lookout for a boy or young man in fatigues" Allen's voice instructed them.

"What, is he kidding us?" the formerly sleeping man frowned.

"I thought it was guys in white that were giving you trouble?" Noro pointed out.

"They were" Devon admitted "Something new must of happened. Anything else and I'm calling this whole thing an unmitigated disaster." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose "I'm going to go and take a look around. You keep an eye on things here."

The formerly sleeping man also got up to follow him.

Noro sighed and sat back against the wall of the car, retrieving a juice box from his guitar case where his tommy was hidden. He reached for the straw to pierce it, but the straw was missing.

He sighed.

Practical jokes again.

Just great.

He jumped to his feet and headed out in the corridor. They couldn't have gotten far.

"Hey! Duke!" he called out "Where's my-"

He paused as he saw Devon stopped in the hallway, staring out the open window.

"Hey! Don't leave that open!" Noro protested, slamming the window shut again "Where did Duke go? He-" He paused as he saw the look of absolute horror on Devon's face. "What's wrong?"

"It-It took him" Devon finally stuttered out "I turned around, the window was open, and it just disappeared!"

Noro look at him in disbelief, until he saw something pass by the window.

That was impossible, right? They were going so fast. Nothing could be out there.

Before he could voice this idea, the window burst open again and an arm reached into the carriage, grabbing Devon by the neck and pulling him out before he even had time to scream.

Noro just stood there in horror, staring at where Devon use to be standing, before letting out an absolute scream of blood-chilling fear.


	9. At the back of the train

**Chapter Nine**

"At the back of the train, many discoveries and introductions are made"

 **Near Accident, Maryland**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **21:30**

Allen had been having a perfectly reasonable conversation with Zarc Drago when suddenly the radio in his suite crackled to life, a voice coming through at a volume that was almost deafening.

"THEY'RE GONE! IT GOT THEM! WE NEED HELP DOWN HERE! HELP!"

Before Allen could reached the radio, Sayaka got there first, purple dress swishing in an arc across the room as she hurried to answer the call.

"Noro, what's going on down there?" she asked "Is it the white suits?"

The only response she got with an ear-piercing scream, then silence.

* * *

The boy in coveralls, meanwhile, had finally succeeded in crawling along the bottom of the train to the freight cars, after an unfortunate miscalculation had set him to the first-class carriage instead.

He didn't know what was up with all these white suits and black suits and girls with knives, but he did know he wanted no part in it. Hiding out in the freight cars seemed to be the way to go.

He paused when he saw that one of the freight cars had their side-door open. They were supposed to be closed before departure. Did that mean someone was already in there? Someone sympathetic to his plight, or an enemy?

He got his answer not a second later.

Something, for he could only describe it as some _thing_ , leant out of the open door, a screaming and thrashing man held by the collar with one hand. Without a pause for thought, the thing lowered the man down until his legs touched the track below.

The boy didn't want to see this. He'd seen the horrific injuries that occurred to people who fell from trains at this speed.

For a gut-churning few seconds, he heard that sound of true, unimaginable pain crawling up the man in black's throat as well as the sound of bones crunching and blood splattering against the carriages. Then, silence. Only the sound of the wheels thundering again the track.

The boy opened his eyes just in time to see the man in black being thrown back into the freight car, clearly deceased and now missing his legs. Then he and the thing that had just killed the man locked eyes – it had eyes? It was alive? A living thing then? – neither willing to look away or blink.

Finally, the urge to blink was too great for the boy, and he let his eyes shut.

When the opened again, the blood-covered thing was just inches from his face.

It then parted its lips – lips too? Almost human then – and muttered something that sent shivers down the boy's spine.

He screamed with horror and scrambled away under the carriages again as fast as he could so.

Mercifully, the thing didn't follow him.

* * *

Ray and Reira had now reached the third-class carriages. They anxiously looked for a place to hide, but the rooms here were much smaller than in first-class and most of them were occupied.

Ray finally had an idea as she opened one of the doors and found it was home to a broom cupboard, rather than a suite.

"Here you go" she gently pushed Reira in "You hide here. I'll hide in one of the wardrobes in the suites."

"But, Ray-" was all he managed to get out in reply.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine" Ray reassured him, pushing down on his head until he was crouching in the cupboard amongst the mops "Just stay quiet, and don't let them catch you."

The door closed, and he heard the sound of her running footsteps down the hall.

He waited a few seconds to make sure the coast was clear, then opened the door a crack and peeked out into the corridor. No sign of Ray.

' _Good_ ' he thought ' _She's safe for now. Time to find those white suit guys_.'

* * *

 **Near Bellegrove, Maryland**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **23:30**

Yuzu, in Yuya's opinion, was even more concerned about the safety of that bomb than he was. How long did it require to check on the thing? It certainly didn't help that they were only one carriage away from the mess in the caboose, and Yuya swore he heard screaming on three difference occasions, even if Noburu assured him it was just the wind racing past the train.

Finally, they were ready to go searching for Meiru.

Easier said than done.

They'd travelled all the way up to the dining car and found it empty. The only thing Michio could tell them was that Meiru had burst in with a knife at the same time as four hijackers.

"HIJACKERS?!" Yuya yelped before the others could shush him "WE'RE BEING HIJACKED _AND_ THERE'S A RAIL TRACER?!"

"Rail Tracer" Michio scoffed "Poppycock. No such thing as a Rail Tracer."

Yuya then proceeded to try and tell him about the conductors in the caboose, but Yuzu hands got to his mouth first. She didn't think it was good idea to announce to the already on-edge dining car that the men who was supposed to be raising the alarm and rescuing them were dead.

"You said she headed toward second-class?" Yuzu checked. Michio nodded "Well we came from that direction, and we didn't see her."

"So she may be hiding in one of the carriages?" Noburu suggested.

"We should go check" Yuzu decided.

"Zarc and Ray and Reira are gone" Yuya noticed.

"Ray and Reira went running off the same way you did" Michio told them "The black suits took Zarc back to first-class."

"Oh no! I hope they're not doing horrible things to him in there!" Yuya stressed.

"Yugo and Rin are gone too" Yuzu pointed out.

"They went looking for you two" Michio explained "I haven't seen them since."

That just wound Yuya up even more, until Yuzu and Gongenzaka pulled him out of the dining car to look for Meiru.

They'd tried every empty room in second-class and were now checking third-class.

"I don't understand why she'd hide" Yuya told them for the thousandth time "She knew we were in the caboose, just there. Why would she hide just a few carriages away?"

"Maybe she saw something that made her hide?" Noburu suggested, trying another door handle. Locked.

"Like the Rail Tracer?!" Yuya suggested, voice high-pitched again.

"There may not be a Rail Tracer" Yuzu pointed out, opening another door. A broom cupboard – also empty "The conductors could've been killed by one of the white suits."

As she tried another handle, she heard a shout from inside the room.

"Boss! Is that you?!"

"She's in here!" Yuzu declared, throwing open the door.

As she predicted, in the centre of the small suite was Meiru, hands and ankles bound together with rope.

"Oh thank god! I thought you'd never find me!" she breathed a sigh of relief and Noburu rushed to remove the ropes "Assholes took my knife and everything!"

"What happened to you?" Noburu questioned.

"I was coming to find you" Meiru told him "I guess you've heard what happened up in the dining car by now. I was running along when someone grabbed me and tied me up in here. Some dude in a black suit. A little while later he brings in a blonde girl in white, all tied up as well. Just as I'm beginning to wonder what kind of party this is, another girl in white comes bursting in and attacks the guy with a knife. He goes running and she releases the other girl, said something about telling Yuri all of this, I think? Then the bitch leaves me in here – says she has no reason to release me!" She lowered her voice into a sarcastic Chicago accent "'Why? What would I get out of it? If you were a man at least I could get a kiss. But you're a girl. So you can stay right here. It's your fate to die right here.'" Meiru switched back to her regular voice, clearly annoyed. "God, what a creep! What's the girl version of a pervert?"

"What were you even doing, running into the dining car with a knife, anyway?" Yuzu questioned.

Meiru face went pink and she looked away. "Just a…misunderstanding."

"You're done" Noburu announced, ropes falling away as he helped the much smaller girl to her feet "Let's go. We don't want to be here if your friends in white and black come back."

"Great!" Meiru declared "Where are we going?"

"Freight car" Yuzu told her as they switched to the next carriage "We'll wait in there with the package. Then we can decide what to do about the others."

"The others?" Meiru blinked "Like who?"

"The senator's family are missing" Yuzu confirmed.

"And Yugo and Rin are looking for us, but we haven't seen them" Yuya pointed out.

"Er…guys?" Noburu stopped dead in his tracks "I don't think the freight hold is that safe anymore."

He pointed down the corridor of the freight car they were in, just one away from the car that held the bomb.

There was a steady pool of blood trickling from under the door.

* * *

Back in the third-class carriage the group had just left from, Ray was crouched in a small wardrobe, knees tucked up to her chest to fit inside. She had one arm wrapped around her legs to keep them still, the other clamped over her mouth to keep it shut. She took steady breaths through her nose, trying her best not to make a sound.

She wasn't entirley sure what time it was or how long she'd been crouched there; the clock in the room was just outside the wardrobe, but she was too afraid to peek out and look at it.

Occasionally she heard footsteps moving along the corridor outside. She hadn't heard anything from Reira though, so he was probably still safe.

Good, Reiji would never forgive her for putting this brother in the middle of this mess.

This was, after all, all her fault. All these people had surely only attacked the train because she was on it. All these people scared and dead, all because of her and Zarc.

' _Zarc_!' her brain snapped back to her husband, who she'd been trying her best not to think about ' _God I hope they haven't hurt him because of me! I would know if they did, right_? _RIGHT_?!'

In her panic, her knee jolted and forced the door of the wardrobe open. It reached its maximum range and then slammed shut again with an audible bang.

Frozen in horror, Ray could only sit there and pray that no one had heard the door slam.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor.

The door handle shook, as if someone was testing it. They would soon find it locked.

Would they try to break in? Or assume someone innocent was inside?

She knew there was only one thing she could do. As soon as they forced the door, leap from the wardrobe and tackle them. She almost certainly wouldn't win the fight, but it might by her a few seconds to get away.

She heard the latch break under someone's weight and sprung into action.

She tumbled to the floor on top of someone and immediately tried to spring to her feet to run. But the person she had tackled grabbed her arm, forcing her to turn it into punch instead.

For a few seconds they grappled on the floor, Ray fighting to get away, the person who had caught up to her fighting to keep her down. Finally the person who had grabbed her used his larger weight to pin her down, but Ray still gave him all the hell she could. No one was going to kill her, or her baby, tonight,

"Stop struggling you-" whatever insult he intended to call her was cut off, as the sound of something slicing echoed through the room.

The man went limp onto top of Ray. She shrieked with horror and pushed him off her, scooting up against the wall to get as far away from him as possible.

Looking down at the man, she could see he was clearly dead. Red was blooming from the back of his neck and starting to stain his white jacket.

She hadn't done that? Had she?

The click of heels on the floor finally alerted her both to the fact she had been rescued, and to the fact her rescuer was still in the room.

Look up, she met the eyes of a lady with dark hair in a black dress, coolly staring back at her like what had just happened was as significant as swatting a fly. Ray was about to thank her, when she saw the knife in the lady's hand.

The knife dripping with blood.

Ray was not ashamed to say she screamed like a little girl.

* * *

One carriage down in the freight car, Yuya and his gang had their eyes fixed on the ruby stain crawling its way under the door to their left ahead of them.

Just before Yuya could made any more frightened comments about the Rail Tracer coming to get them, the door that the blood was crawling under opened, now streaking the elixir of life all over the carpet. What stepped out after it though, was clearly human. A man in a white suit to be exact. A man in white suit flanked by two women in white dresses would be even more exact.

"That's them!" declared Meiru, pointing at the women "Those are the girls that left me in there!"

One of the girls, the one with blonde hair, looked at them dismissively. "Oh, it's you. Looks like your little friends came for you after all."

Other two people in white now looked at the group, the man's eyes twinkling in recognition. Yuya realised, with not a small amount of horror, that it was the same man in white that he'd ran into in the second-class corridor on his mad dash to the conductors' cab. Only, he was fairly certain at that time, that the man in question wasn't splattered with blood.

"Yes, that's definitely him" the dark-haired woman at his shoulder nodded.

"I knew it!" the man declared, unfolding a piece of paper from his pocket "I knew I'd seen that tattoo before!"

He turned the paper for Yuya to see, and he was even more horrified to see his own face looking back at him on a wanted poster. Now all he could do was pray that this group weren't affiliated with the Kurosakis or Fusers in any way.

"You really get around kid!" the man admitted "I mean, if you're appearing in Serena's society rags and all."

"They're not society rags" the dark-haired woman, Serena presumably, sighed with a roll of her eyes.

"I mean, you've been a very bad boy, Yuya Sakaki" the man declared, reading from the paper as he strode towards Yuya and his group "Breaking and entering, supply and distribution of illegal alcohol, possession of explosives without a permit, all those robberies and allegedly – this is the best part!" He looked over his shoulder at the girls " _Allegedly_ burning down the Kurosaki family's home!" He tut-tutted, waggling a finger like a disappointed parent. "What would your parents say?"

All of Yuya's group flinched and looked at the boy in question at the final remark.

Yuya grounded his teeth together until he felt calm enough to answer the question. "I wouldn't be asking questions about what my parents would think of me, when you're standing in front of me, covered in blood."

"Oh, I was the favourite child – Serena was told she had to step up the homicidal urges" the man commented, folding up the piece of paper to put in his pocket again "See, my name is Yuri Polyma. I suppose you've heard of my family, or at least who they're affiliated with."

Yuya's mouth went dry. The Polymas. Eastern-European family, known as head enforcers for the Fusers – the roughest, meanest group of producers and sellers of alcohol in Chicago.

The same group that had put the bounty on Yuya's head.

"I can tell by your reaction you know who I am, which begs the question" Yuri's face went from playful to downright nasty in a second "Just who the hell do you think you are kid?! And what the hell do you think you're doing on my train?!"

Yuya wanted to crawl up into a little ball and roll all the way back to Chicago. But remembering what Yuri had said about his parents gave him just enough strength to stand his ground.

"Well, no matter" Yuri's face went back to playful "Because we're going to hold this train for ransom. And then we're going to kill half to the passengers."

"Just half?" Serena raised an eyebrow.

"Well, ok, all of them" Yuri shrugged like it wasn't much of a difference to him "But not you, of course. The Fusers want you alive. So you'll be around to see all your little friends die! Isn't that wonderful?" He now turned to the rest of the group. "Of course, you could always jump from the train now if you don't want to die by my hand later. But that's not nearly as fun."

"Dibs on the ginger runt" Serena declared, arms folded and looking impatient by the whole delay.

"You shut your mouth, lady!" Meiru declared.

Of course, she called her something far worse than a lady at this point, folks. We could all probably take a stab at what the particular insult was, but that would probably require a higher rating than this story is currently sitting at.

"So you're the one who did all of this" Yuya finally managed out "You're the one who killed the conductors!"

"Huh?" Yuri's face again turned away from playfulness, but now to confusion "The conductors are dead?" He bowed his head for a second. When it rose again, it appeared to have a sorrowful look on it. Mocking or genuine, Yuya wasn't sure of. "That is a shame. A real shame. Come on, girls. Let's go see the poor dead conductor."

He immediately seemed to forget that Yuya's group existed, turning on his heel and marching past the girls in white towards the caboose.

"We're just leaving them?" the blonde girl seemed incredulous; but when Serena didn't give an alternate order, she instead scoffed and headed after Yuri.

Serena looked over at Yuya's group, surveying them with calculating green eyes.

"Don't expect things to go in your favour next time we meet" she warned them.

"What makes you think we'll be meeting again?" Yuzu, no longer intimidated by Yuri, finally raised her chin and glared at Serena defiantly.

Serena paused, then shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure we'll make time for each other eventually."

She began to walk towards the exit after her brother, but stopped and turned back to them before she reached the far door.

"By the way," she added "You were wrong. We didn't kill the conductor. And we didn't cause that mess in there either. Good luck."

She sent them a small wave before stepping out of sight.

"Yeah right" Meiru scoffed "No way we should believe a word of what they're saying!"

"You're just going to let them walk off like that?" Noburu looked at Yuya, a little concerned "After what they said…"

"They're not the priority now" Yuya cut him off, walking over to the bloody door that was slightly ajar, but not enough that he could see inside it "For now, we have to take there of this."

With a deep breath and a shaking hand, with everyone's eyes on him, Yuya slowly cracked open the door.


	10. Rin and Yugo spread happiness around

**Chapter Ten**

"Rin and Yugo unintentionally spread happiness around them"

 **Near Hancock, Maryland**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **00:00**

Meiru, not for one second, was ashamed of the fact that she threw up at the sight of what was inside the freight hold.

For one, she hadn't seen the horrors in the caboose or the dead bodies in the dining car – she'd been having quite a chipper, bloodless evening by the rest of the train's standards.

And also, she would like to think that the sight of a legless corpse would send anyone reaching for the window, heaving it open and propelling vomit up their throat.

Just as she was thought she was finished, she heard Yuzu pondering:

"How did all that blood get all the way up on the ceiling?"

Well that just set her off all over again.

This time, once she was done retching, Meiru was happy to announce that no on else said anything to make her feel even worse. Instead she leant back against the window frame, droopy eyes watching the smoke pouring from the top of the funnel at the front of the train, with some light from the windows of the carriages lighting up the gold decorative pieces along the walls of the carriage.

They also happened to light up the form of a figure clinging onto the side of one of said carriages.

No, this time Meiru didn't want to vomit. She instead wanted to faint. Or scream. Both at the same time would be good.

"Hey guys?" she somehow managed to choke out "Either my vision's gone hinkey or there's something crawling around on the outside of the train."

The three others looked at each other in disbelief. Noburu pulled her away from the window, laying a massive hand against her forehead.

"You're flushed but not warm" he admitted "No fever."

"I'm not hallucinating!" she insisted "I think…Go take a look for yourselves! It's probably still out there!"

The three once again looked at each other, now daring one another to look first.

"Fine" Yuzu declared "We all look together on the count of three."

The boys found those terms acceptable. The three of them moved their heads over to the window.

"One…Two…Three…GO!"

They all shoved their heads out at the same time, just in time to see a red shape jump from the side of the third-class carriage to the roof, out of sight.

All three were silent for a moment, unable to process what they just saw.

It was Yuya who spoke first.

"I…I think that was the Rail Tracer!"

* * *

 **Chicago Police Headquarter, Illinois**

 **Monday, 1st December 1930**

 **10:00**

"Everyone! Can I have your attention please!"

The sixty some detectives in the room, all from Chicago or its neighbour cities, fell quiet, the only sound being some cigarettes being lit.

"Thank you everyone" the head of Chicago police continued from the front of the room, gesturing to two men to his right "These two gentlemen here are FBI agents Hikage and Tsukikage Fuma. They're here tracking a pair of fugitives, and of course I guaranteed them the cooperation of all of you."

There were a few coughs and some more cigarettes being lit, but no objections.

"These two agents have been tracking a pair of robbery suspects" he explained "They've struck everywhere from San Francisco to DC, with over 80 jobs known to be under their belts so far. Of course, considering how far apart these jobs are, these agents have come to suspect the pair are using the railways to escape. And since all trains inevitably end up in Chicago, they're hoping that we could keep a look out from them in our enquiries."

A projector started up and a series of pictures began flicking across the wall behind him.

"These are the only known pictures of the robbers."

What flickered across the wall, however, were some of the strangest pictures the detectives had ever seen. First there was a picture of a man and a woman dressed up as mimes, carrying sacks over their shoulders as they gave the camera the thumbs up. The next picture was them dressed up as Charlie Chaplin, carrying a large chest between them but still apparently having time to help an old lady cross the road. Then they were dressed up as mummies, carrying a large oaken door between them.

It was definitely the same man and woman every time though. The man had hair down to his shoulders and a jovial grin in each photo. The woman had a bob haircut, with expressions ranging from equal joy to exasperation.

"Chief, are you trying to put one over on us?" someone finally asked.

"I can see why you'd think that" the chief of police admitted "But these suspects are the only jokers."

"Chief, if they have time to pose for photos, how have they not been caught yet?" somebody else asked.

"I think I had better let Mr and Mr Fuma take over for that" the chief decided, allowing the agents to address the room.

"All of these photos have been handed into us by members of the public, taken because they were curious about their costumes" Tsukikage told the room "It appears that all of them thought they were watching a performance by actors, and only realised they were robbers after they had fled."

"So far they've mostly been doing petty crimes, nothing that would land them on our most wanted list" Hikage informed the detectives "Small stuff. Chocolate, candy, watches-"

"They one time stole the door to the National History museum" Tsukikage reminded him "Any cash they gleaned from these robberies was minimal at best."

"The last we've heard of them, they robbed a grocery store in Modesto, California" Hikage continued the story "They were dressed as corn stalks and stole only cereal. They've been off our radar for the last month though."

"So why all the interest now?" one of the detectives asked "Why not send them back to their mothers and let them spank them for us?"

"Because they're starting to hunt bigger game" Tsukikage explained "Just before they dropped off the radar, they made off with most of the fortune of the renowned millionaire, Eita Kyuando."

There were a few whispers at that. Even in Chicago, most people had heard of Eita Kyuando. He was a new business tycoon in New York, buying up old family-built and run jewellery stores, taking all their stones and connections and then closing the store and having it demolished, then stretching out the return payments so far that the families he had bought out wouldn't see any money until most were dead and buried. He wasn't exactly the most sympathetic victim in the world.

"Most unusually, most of the money they stole seems to have ended up in the hands of families that Kyuando bought out, such as the Kotsu and Anderson families" Hikage added "The rest has turned up in soup kitchens and other charities."

"So they kept none for themselves?" a detective asked, apparently finding this absurd.

"It appears so" Tsukikage confirmed.

"Why the change of pace?" another detective asked.

"We don't know" Hikage told him "That's something I would like to ask them myself. Once these thugs are behind bars, of course."

* * *

 **Near Flintstone, Maryland**

 **Wednesday 30th December 1931**

 **23:15**

"RIN!"

Rin jumped from where she was looking into a broom cupboard in second-class. She immediately looked over at Yugo, who was gripping his head in what appeared to be agony.

"What is it?" she asked, worried "Are you having a seizure?"

"THIS IS TERRIBLE!" he yelled, turning to her, eyes wide with horror "WE FORGOT MASUMI!"

Rin froze for a few seconds, then appeared to tip backward onto the floor, face now also contorted into a look of horror.

"This is terrible!" she also declared "Yugo!"

"RIN!"

The two practically collapsed into each other's arms in a fountain of tears.

"WE FORGOT TO BUY A PRESENT FOR MASUMI!"

* * *

 **Near Hancock, Maryland**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **00:00**

"Is it gone?" Meiru finally asked, not daring to stick her head out the window like the rest of her group.

"I think so" Noburu admitted.

Yuya pushed past them both of them and out the door to the connecting point between the freight carriage and the third-class carriage. He looked up at the roof of the third-class carriage where the Rail Tracer had jumped up to. He couldn't see anything from down here.

"Up there!" he declared "That's how it's not being seen! We need to do that too!"

As the other three came pouring out of the freight car, Yuya pointed up at the next roof.

"Noburu, can you boost us all up there?" he asked.

Although the request was weird, Noburu nodded and helped Yuya and the girls up onto the roof.

"Meet us at the next connecting point" Yuya told Noburu, who was still at ground level, clearly not able to heave his massive frame up to the roof himself "And watch out for the guys in the black suits!"

"Got it" Noburu agreed, heading into the third-class carriage.

The other three began their long trek to the end of the carriage roof. The wind was harsh up there so, with Yuya leading the way, they stayed low and crawled their way along single-file.

"Hey Yuzu!" Meiru yelled over the sound of the wind "Yuya seems pretty determined about this!"

"I guess so" Yuzu would've shrugged if she was able to from a crawling position.

"I haven't seen him this focused about something since the Fusers killed eight of our men" Meiru admitted, sounding a bit exhilarated by the whole thing really "He really put away the tears and pulled it out for that one. Wonder what he's gonna do this time?"

Up head, Yuya wiped his eyes. But he held back the tears and ploughed on through the wind.

* * *

 **Near Hagerstown, Maryland**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **01:00**

"So, what did you see?"

Yuya's gang had all taken to using the rooftops to spy on the various carriages. Now they had all meet back in an empty suite in second-class.

"First-class is empty except for one suite" Meiru told him "I guess everyone else was in the dining car when the commotion broke out. The only one still occupied I saw one black suit in. I could only look for a second though, because I think he saw me and I thought I'd better shift."

"There are two of them in the dining car, guarding the thing with tommys" Yuzu told him "I don't think they want the people in there running off and alerting anyone still in their cabins. Its past midnight now – no one but us should be running around outside the dining car."

"Us and the white suits, anyway" Yuya admitted "Speaking of, I haven't seen any of them. Have you guys?"

"Just the three in the caboose" Meiru admitted "Come to think of it, I haven't seen many black suits either. It seemed like a lot more of them were on the platform."

"Maybe they're hiding?" Noburu suggested "Or jumped off?"

"They can't jump off at this speed" Yuya pointed out "That would kill them."

"There's another thing" Yuzu added "Everyone we spoke to earlier is still gone, except for Michio. No sign of Ray or Zarc or Reira. Not even Rin and Yugo."

"But we've searched the length of this train" Meiru pointed "If they were all in the room with those black suits, surely I would've seen one of them in the time I was looking through the window."

"That or the white suits killed them already" Yuya's hands were shaking "We need to look for them. Everywhere. We're not getting off for another few hours anyway, we have time." He looked at the girls. "Girls, I want you to take the roof and head towards the dining car and first-class." He then turned to Noburu. "Noburu, you're with me, heading the opposite way." Finally he turned back to Yuzu and stepped forward until he was right in front of her, her body sandwiched between him and the wall. "Hey, Yuzu. I'll be right back, so don't worry."

Before his nerves could fail him, he kissed her right on the mouth. Not allowing her time to respond however, he quickly hurried out the carriage, Noburu running behind him.

"Yuya, that sly dog" Meiru just grinned lecherously after him.

* * *

 **Near Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **02:00**

In their search for Yuya, Rin and Yugo had finally made it to the caboose, where they were staring in horror down at the carnage in there.

Well, Rin was. She'd insisted Yugo watch her back, which he thought meant he had to be always facing behind her. He was still refusing to turn around and look into the caboose instead, content to just imagine it himself.

"This is horrible" Rin breathed, eyes surveying the scene with…actually less horror than realising they forgot Masumi's birthday present.

"Yes, awful" Yugo nodded. What he was imagining in his head was something Rin didn't want to inquire into.

"There's so much blood" she reached back and grabbed Yugo's hand for a little comfort.

"Do you think the Rail Tracer did this?" Yugo asked.

"Probably" Rin nodded.

"But no Yuya" Yugo pointed out "I don't see him anywhere."

Rin didn't see him either, if you wanted a more reliable source.

"He must have been swallowed whole by the monster!" Rin declared "He's probably still alive inside its stomach!"

"SWALLOWED WHOLE!" Yugo wailed in horror, hands reaching up to his face in the perfect imitation of The Scream painting "HOW DO WE SAVE HIM?!"

"We just have to hope the monster is still on this train!" she decided "Then we can reach in and rescue him!"

"Poor Yuya!" Yugo sobbed "Gobbled up by the Rail Tracer! What a great guy!"

Now even Rin couldn't help but sob, sad piano music echoing in the aether.

"YUGO! RIN!"

Rin tried to turn around upon hearing a voice call her name, but her eyes were too blurry to see properly. Yugo, however, was still watching her back, so insisted on turning too, which meant that Rin was now facing up the corridor, and he was looking into the caboose. Thankfully his eyes were still shut with misery.

"The poor little guy!" he sobbed.

"RIN! YUGO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"We'll be alright Yuya" Rin sobbed as well, eyes too blurry to see properly.

"It's like we can hear his sweet voice calling our names right now right now!" Yugo raised his hands together like he was praying.

"RIN! YUGO! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

That did actually sound a bit like Yuya.

Drying her eyes, now she could see who was running at full-pelt down the carriage towards them and the very large man running just behind him.

"Yuya!" she declared with delight, running forward and hugging him as the sad piano music finally stopped "You escaped the Rail Tracer's stomach!"

"We knew you could do it, old buddy old pal!" Yugo declared, also jumping into the hug.

"STOMACH?!" Yuya yelped, but recovered quickly "You know what, why don't we get out of here and go talk about it in the baggage car?"

"Sounds good to me!" Rin declared, wiping away the last remnants of tears on her face.

Noburu sighed and headed back to the freight hold, Yuya and the couple that wouldn't stop clinging onto him following.

* * *

Only a few seconds after they shut the door behind them, a figure slipped through the window into the conductors' cab. Moving expertly around the broken bodies and pools of blood, it reached up and flicked the switch to the outside lamp three times.

* * *

 **Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **02:30**

"You know, I finally think I understand what's going on here."

It had taken an inordinate amount of time for Yuya and Noburu to explain to the couple what had been going on. Both boys were still confused about how they had apparently missed all the white and black suits running around, receiving nothing more than broken sobs about birthday presents and something called Masumi. So the idea they had made enough progress with at least one of them to get an understanding as to what was going on was a great positive to them.

"This train is now like The Romance of The Three Kings" Rin declared wisely.

Yuya and Noburu in return looked at her like she was nuts.

"R-Romance?" Noburu couldn't get his head around where that idea had come from "This reminds you of a romance?"

There was a long pause, with only the sound of the train clattering in the background disrupting the air between them.

"I don't know what that is" Yuya finally admitted.

Rin straightened her back and thoughtfully raise a finger, as if she thought she was about to make an important point. Yuya could've sworn vaguely oriental music started playing from somewhere.

"It is a piece of ancient historical Chinese fiction" she declared "It tells the story of three great warriors who divide their land in a feud."

She stopped for no discernible reason, the mysterious music stopping also.

Everyone leant in a little closer to her, urging her to continue.

"And?" Yuya tried to press her on.

"Their names were Sau Sau, Lao Be and Hoku Si" she finally continued, the mysterious music from nowhere starting back up again; Noburu was now looking around for it, vaguely perturbed.

"And in ancient works of art, they were often represented by the snake, slug and frog" Yugo added, pretending like he was putting on a pair of glasses and reading a book.

"Which one got the slug?" Yuya couldn't help but ask.

In response, Rin jumped to her feet, pointing at Yuya so severely she almost stabbed him in the eye with her fingernail. "Yuya! You must become Billy the Kid!"

Not missing a beat, Yugo almost jumped to his feet and pointed at Yuya. "Be him!"

The vaguely oriental music was still going on in the background. Noburu half expected it to change to being a western now.

"Be someone that legendary?" Yuya questioned.

"Yes!" Rin declared "You can do it!"

"You can do it!" Yugo mimicked her.

"Well…I was planning on saving all the passengers by taking care of those guys in the black suits and Polyma's goons" Yuya admitted "But I'm honestly not that great of a person myself. All I do is bootleg liquor and yesterday I ended up killing three people."

It was actually two days ago now, but since Yuya was without a watch and the freight hold without a clock we can forgive him for this mistake.

"Killing?!" Both members of the couple reared back away from him, eyes practical falling out of their heads. The oriental music skidded to a crashing halt.

"No" Noburu put an end to that line of thought immediately "We're the ones who killed them. Yuya didn't do anything."

"What's the difference?" Yuya very almost scowled "It happened. The Fusers got eight of our friends, killed them."

"KILLED THEM?!" If it was possible for Rin and Yugo to real further back, they somehow achieved it.

"It went and got me so mad, that I went and knocked over eighteen of the Fuser's speak-os" Yuya admitted "And when the Kurosakis stepped in to demand their share of the profits, I set fire to their building!"

"Eighteen robberies, and an arson?!" Yugo questioned.

"That must have taken all month!" Rin commented.

"NO! I did it in one night!" Yuya jumped to his feet and practically yelled it in their faces.

"ONE NIGHT?!"

"Yuya was angrier than I'd ever seen him before" Noburu confirmed the story "Which means he cried a whole lot more too."

"I avenged my friends but all I did was just make it worse" Yuya sank back down to the floor in defeat "When the cops went to arrest the Kurosakis with the evidence they found in their building, two of them got killed. And then those three guys who came to get me, they died too." He sagged in on himself. "A guy like me just can't be a great hero."

Yugo suddenly sprung forward, grabbing Yuya's collar in one hand and ruffling his hair roughly with the other.

"Hey!" he declared with a smile "Don't let life get you down, partner!"

"Yeah!" Rin added, the music now returning and taking a turn for the adventurous, apparently satisfying Noburu's wish for more of a western beat "In The Romance of the Three Kings, Sau Sau and Billy the Kid slaughtered thousands, millions, trillions of people! That didn't stop people from thinking they were great guys, which means that they could only have been great guys!"

There was a long pause, where no one spoke again, the music cutting off abruptly again.

"So you've got to live in the moment!" Yugo finally decided upon.

"Right!" Rin agreed.

The pair linked hands began to move their arms in a wave, the mysterious music now turning Hawaiian.

"We believe in you Yuya!" Rin continued her thought "And that wave of positive thoughts will be enough for you to surf over all of your negative troubles!"

"Don't miss the wave, Yuya!" Yugo cheered "Go with the flow! All you need to make those waves is for just one person to think you're great! And you've got two!"

"We know you're great, Yuya!" Rin kept the lively atmosphere going "We're making waves _for_ you!"

Yugo then moved his arm so she spun into his arms like they were ballroom dancing.

"Ok?" they both looked at him and spoke in unison.

Yuya paused as the music also paused, then broke into a smile. "Thanks you two."

They then leapt out of each other's arms and moved to the door, raising their arms and waving at him in unison now.

"Bye" they echoed each other.

"Where are you going?" Yuya questioned "It's safer for you in here."

"My friend, we are going to hunt down the Rail Tracer" Rin told him.

"We're going to ask it very nicely to get off the train" Yugo added.

"And if that doesn't work?" Yuya winced slightly at the idea.

They both moved in unison to shoot him a thumbs up. "Then we'll tan his hide!"

"And what if that doesn't work?" Yuya asked.

They now both just looked confused. Twin looks of identical befuddlement.

Then they just gave him the thumbs up again with a hearty grin. "Then we're run away and hide!"

Yuya just slumped in recognition of the fact his words clearly weren't making an ounce of difference.

"That monster's very dangerous" Noburu decided to try now "Be careful."

"Don't worry! If things get ugly-" Yugo turned his hands into finger guns and pretended to fire them. The music started up again, gunshots echoing in the air before a distinctly old western song started playing, a little horse whinny in the background for good measure. Yugo pretended to blow out his finger guns. "I'll use my trusty hundred guns!"

The fact he was dressed up as a cowboy seemed to have gotten to him, as he certainly wasn't carrying any guns. Yuya and Noburu weren't entirely sure how quasi-real gunshot sounds were going to work against a mythical monster.

"But you don't have any guns" Yuya tried to get them to see reason, even as Rin was now mimicking the finger guns.

The pair just whistled in amazement, but only god knew what the heck that meant.

"Well how about that" Yugo shrugged, playing with the rim of his cowboy hat "But a grizzled old ranch hand told me once: 'Know why a real cowboy keeps his gun, son? In his heart'!"

With that the pair of them pointed their finger guns at their hearts, the mysterious gunshots echoing in the air again.

Noburu wonder idly if that was kind of dangerous. Anything seemed possible with these two.

"Try not to die, ok?" Rin asked, opening the door so they could side-step out of it in unison.

Both raised their hands again to waved goodbye. "Bye!"

The door slammed shut in Yuya and Noburu's faces.

"Well I'm not sure if _either_ of them are playing with a full deck" Yuya admitted "But I have to admit, those two have got way more guts than I do." He turned to Noburu "Noburu, we can't let them show us up. So why don't we become the biggest, baddest guys on this train?!"

Noburu stared at him, then relaxed into a smile a bit. "Yeah, sounds like that could be fun."


	11. Shuin'in faithfully reports back

**Chapter Eleven**

"Shuin'in faithfully reports back his experiences"

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **11:30**

"So, there were four factions abroad The Flying Lancer, is what you're saying?"

The president had started taking notes a little while back as the cripple narrated. Shinji was leaning forward in his seat, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, clearly enraptured by the tale. Shingo's legs had given out and he'd been forced to sit down on the sofa by the door. He had also started jotting down notes as the story continued without signs of slowing down.

"The white suits, consisting mostly of people under the Fuser umbrella organisation, led by Yuri and Serena Polyma, who wish to ransom the train then kill the witnesses" the president listed them "The Lemures, consisting mostly of people from the Kurosaki family, led by Allen Kozuki, who hope to hold Ray and Zarc Drago hostage in exchange for the release of their leader Shun Kurosaki. The faction led by Yuya Sakaki, who hope to steal a bomb being transported in the freight hold. And the mysterious couple Yugo and Rin, who are…hoping to steal a birthday present? Is that right?"

"Honestly, I don't pretend to understand those two" the cripple shrugged "But you're dead on with the others."

"You forgot one" the president pointed out "You."

The cripple blinked. "Me?"

"A neutral observer" the president remarked "A neutral observer who can crawl on train cars. Skills probably put to use dodging conductors as you ride the rails for free across the country. You could have made an excellent burglar in another life."

Shinji laughed out loud at the statement. Even Shingo had to quickly cover a chuckle.

The cripple however tightened his fists against his coverall covered calves, his teeth grinding together and eyes narrowing. Absolute hate shone through the green gleam.

"I think it's time I introduced you" the president announced "I know who you are, but I'm afraid my colleagues don't. In all fairness, you don't look much like your esteemed father."

The cripple softened slightly. "What difference would that make?"

The president just smiled knowingly and turned to his editors. "I would like to introduce you, properly, to the man you've mostly likely been calling the boy in coveralls. His name is Shuin'in. I don't suppose that rings any bells."

Shingo shook his head. The name meant nothing to him.

Shinji froze for a few seconds, then gasped and pointed dramatically at the cripple – Shuin'in – before settling back down and bowing his head.

"Please accept our most humble apologies on behalf of your father, Mr Shuin'in" he apologised.

Shingo's jaw dropped. Since when did Shinji apologise for anything?

Shuin'in also seemed startled, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh-huh."

"You've been most helpful, Mr Shuin'in" the president told their guest "But I'm most intrigued by this Rail Tracer you mentioned. You don't mean to tell me it's just a story."

Shuin'in shifted uncomfortably again. "I saw _something_. I'm not saying it was a monster, or something stupid like that. But _something_ was killing people on that train."

The president sat back, and picked up his pen again. "By all means, please do continue, Mr Shuin'in. I'm sure we're all most intrigued by what you have to say on this matter."

* * *

 **Near Hancock, Maryland**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **00:10**

"Well would you look at this!"

Yuri, Serena and Gloria had made it to the conductor's cab in the caboose, to be confronted to the grizzly sight that had sent many a soul turning in the opposite direction.

"Look at all this artistry!" Yuri was practically skipping for joy in the pooling blood, white shoes becoming soaked through with it "It's so beautiful!"

"It's so tacky" Serena remarked "No finesse at all."

"An amateur is an amateur, Serena" Yuri pointed out "But the brutality! I want to meet the guy who did this so badly I can hardly contain it!"

"Please try" Serena folded her arms "I'm not scooping your gooey remains of the ground when you melt."

"Hey, boss and boss lady" Gloria called them over to the corpse missing most of it face, lying on the floor of the carriage "Don't you think this looks like someone we know?"

Serena crouched down over the body. It was certainly wearing a conductor's uniform, but neither of the conductors she saw on the platform had long white hair. Someone new who had gotten on when the train was departing Union Station?

Wait, didn't Dokter show off a conductor's uniform there?

Huh, so that's where that guy had gone.

"This is Doktor" she remarked "Well, that's a clear enough message."

Yuri pushed his way onto the balcony at the very back of the train, kicking up puddles of blood in his path and whooping for joy.

"Someone is hunting us" Serena commented "The people in white suits." She looked around the cab. "And last I checked, we're still missing a conductor."

* * *

 **Near Cheat Lake, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday, 30th December 1931**

 **20:15**

"Back to your question" Roger now removed a revolver from the inside pocket on his jacket, where Dennis liked to sneakily hide cigarettes sometimes, levelling it with Dennis' forehead "How can you be spared?"

Roger let out a mirthless laugh as Dennis tried to step back away from the gun, become pressed against the cab's wall.

"Thing is, everyone who hears this story dies" Roger admitted, cocking back the hammer as Dennis' eyes went wide with horror "So, my poor boy, there is in fact, no way for you to be spared."

A few moments later, a gunshot ran throughout the caboose, before being lost in the night…

…

At least that's how Chapter Five ended. But I never said that where the conductors' stories ended, right?

Let's take a look at what actually happened.

…

"Thing is, everyone who hears this story dies" Roger admitted, cocking back the hammer as Dennis' eyes went wide with horror "So, my poor boy, there is in fact, no way for you to be spared."

Just before Roger could pull the trigger though, Dennis' foot went from ground level to the height of his head in a split second. The gun went flying out of Roger's hand, making a graceful arc through the air before Dennis raised his hand to catch it.

He brought his arm down to point the gun directly at Roger's head, face shifting from terrified into smoothly confident.

"Oh, there's one way to be spared, alright" Dennis smiled "You just has to kill the monster before it kills you."

Now he'd lost the gun and the advantage, Roger was the one who was scared. "Now hold on, wait a minute!"

"It's too late" Dennis declared, beginning to back the man with his hands held in the air in surrender into a corner "Although I was so rudely interrupted, I feel I must finish my story. The only way to save yourself from the Rail Tracer: to believe the story when it's told to you. But if it's already here, there's nothing you can do. You just have to keep running until sunrise and pray it doesn't catch up to you."

Dennis now pulled the hammer back on the gun, Roger whimpering in distress.

"But there's no saving you" Dennis told him "I'm sure your sacrifice will awaken the monster, and it will come to consume everyone on this train." He tightened his grip on the handle. "It's time for you to die."

Because Roger could try and plead for his life, Dennis pulled back on the trigger, and the treacherous conductor fell down dead in the corner.

Dennis took a deep breath, cleaning some spattered blood off his face with a handkerchief. His white uniform was now speckled with blood. Great, that never washed out. Tucking the gun away in his jacket's inner pocket, he regarded it distastefully. He'd never liked guns – they were so unnecessarily messy.

Just as he was thinking what to do with Roger's body – off the back of the train perhaps? But how to explain the blood? – a man in a conductor's uniform walked into the cab.

"Whoa?!" the man gazed down at Roger's body in wonder, brushing some white hair out of his eyes in the process "What happened in here?"

Not hesitating for a second, Dennis removed his gun again and levelled it at the strange man. "Who are you?"

"Hey man, put that down!" the new conductor put his hands up in surrender, not that that had worked out for Roger "I'm no one suspicious! Just a nice conductor doing his job!"

"Oh yeah?" Dennis' face twisted unpleasantly "There are only supposed to be two conductors on this train: me and him. So that begs the question, who the hell are you?"

"Ok, buddy, maybe we can put that down and we can all relax!" the new conductor tried to calm Dennis down with a hapless smile and gentle waving hands.

"Why are you so unafraid when I have a gun pointed at you?" Dennis then tried. That was something that had been bugging him from the moment he pulled out the gun. "Who the hell are you? And what the hell are you after on this train?!"

The conductor seemed offended for a second, before breaking into a smirk and shrugging it off. "Well you got me!"

"Are you with him?" Dennis gestured at the dead Roger with his head.

"Him, nah, never seen him before in my life" the imposter shrugged dismissively "I have to admit it, you're quick! The secret's out already!"

Dennis considered this for a minute, then tucked the gun back into his inside pocket again.

"You don't seem like the type of man that would bow to the usual treatment" he decided, turning around and opening the balcony door "I guess I'll have to take it a bit further this time."

"Whoa, you don't mean torture, do you?" the imposter raised his hands in mock surrender "Come on, we all know that you _never_ get reliable information that way!"

Dennis ignored him, stepping onto the balcony.

"Well, it was nice of you to put away your gun and all and make it even" the imposter reached into his own jacket and pulled out another handgun "But I'm afraid you-"

The imposter paused. Looking back up at the balcony, he could see that Dennis had vanished.

Had he jumped? But he hadn't heard the sound of a body hitting the ground.

The imposter stepped out onto the balcony, peering down at the rails. No sign of blood or broken bodies…

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from under the balcony and pulled the imposter down.

Before the imposter could work out which way was up, he found himself dangling inches above the track; the only reason he hadn't fallen to his untimely demise was because Dennis was holding him in a half-nelson, holding the pair of them above the sleepers by ankle strength alone.

"Now, tell me who you are!" Dennis demanded.

The imposter couldn't say anything, mouth dry with fear. He tried to turn the hand still holding the gun towards Dennis.

Dennis wasn't having any of that though. He forced the gun down against the tracks, the handle flying out of the imposter's grasp sharp enough to break his wrist. Before he could complain however, Dennis now lowered the imposter's hand to the ground, giving it the same treatment the gun had gotten.

"Who are you?!" Dennis demanded over the screaming coming from the imposter.

"D-DOKTOR!" the impostor finally managed to turn his screams into a recognisable word.

"Alright then, Doktor" Dennis smiled ever so slightly "What exactly are you doing on this train?"

* * *

 **Near Hancock, Maryland**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **00:15**

"I can't wait to meet the genius who made this masterpiece!" Yuri declared, jumping for utter joy around Doktor's body, Serena pushing Gloria back to prevent their stupid dresses from getting covered in blood "I hope its someone who's a little bit handsome and just a little crazy and absolutely certain he could never be killed!"

He knelt down and pick up what remained of Doktor's head by the hair to yell at it.

"Doktor you good for nothing son of a bitch!" he yelled at the head "Tell me who did this to you!"

"Well since Doktor can't even find his own face at the moment, I somehow doubt he's going to be much help locating this guy" Serena pointed out.

"Hmm…That is a good point" Yuri admitted "But I don't care. I'm going to kill the black suits _and_ the guy who did this!"

"Not without me you're not" Serena warned him "I turn my back on you for one second and you'll end up like Doktor here. And it would disappoint Mommy if she could only bury part of her son."

"Oh you have such little faith, Sere-" Yuri didn't even get to finish before Serena grabbed his chin and forced his jaw up, effectively shutting him up.

"You don't get it, do you?" Serena glared at him "Only _I_ get to kill you! Nobody else has the right before I do!"

Yuri just relaxed into a smile again. "Not if _I_ kill you first."

Serena smiled unnervingly also "We're see about that."

* * *

 **Near Cheat Lake, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday, 30th December 1931**

 **20:20**

"Alright Doktor, member of the Fuser organisation" Dennis flicked his head to get some blood running down his forehead away from his eyes "Now I know why you're here. There's just one thing I don't get; why are you wearing a conductor's uniform?"

Doktor, now missing most of his arm, appeared to be delirious from pain, eyes rolling and laughing uncontrollably. "I-It's fun! I do it because it's fun! Killing is fun!"

"You think it's fun, you sick psychopath?!" Dennis seemed disgusted "Where did you get the uniform?!"

"I got it from the old man at the station!" Doktor declared.

"Old man?" Dennis pondered "An old man gave it to you?"

Doktor just laughed, and slowly Dennis put the pieces together.

He said he _got_ the uniform from an old man at the station; he didn't say the old man _gave_ him the uniform.

There was on old man at the station who Dennis knew had a uniform. One who would never give up his uniform to a thug like this without a fight.

Dennis tried to keep calm, placing one hand in Doktor's hair and tightening his grip to try and work out the anger before he did something stupid. "What old man?!"

And then Doktor said the one thing Dennis' didn't want to hear. "The old conductor at the station!"

Dennis didn't want to ask the question, but he had to know or he'd regret it later. "And what did you do with the old man?"

Doktor's laugh went from hysterical to ear-piercing. "I KILLED HIM!"

He didn't get any further than that before Dennis lowered his head towards the rail tracks, stopping centimeters short.

"You should know that old man's name was Chojiro!" Dennis told him, hurt flashing in his eyes "He taught me everything I know about being a conductor!"

Doktor didn't get the chance to laugh again, Dennis simply lowered the imposter's head to the sleepers, and it all stopped.

* * *

 **Near Flintstone, Maryland**

 **Wednesday, 30th December 1931**

 **23:15**

"What the hell happened here?"

Jacob and Emma had merely been travelling towards the dining car, figuring that some of the black suits would have inevitably wandered back in there. But they'd been distracted by a pool of blood escaping the door of the viewing portion of third class, a large room consisting of several benches so third-class passengers could watch the scenery go by and escape their overcrowded suites. Inside they found a pile of four black suit bodies and enough blood to drown several more people.

"Did Yuri do this?" Emma questioned "Or Serena?"

"No way, these guys died quickly" Jacob pointed out "They like drawing it out, remember?"

"But there's no bullet wounds" Emma gestured at the bodies "How were they killed if not by guns?"

"A knife maybe?" Jacob questioned, looking at the body pile and scratching his head "Pretty easy to find on a train like this. Turned on each other, maybe?"

Emma didn't respond.

"Fine, be bitch about it" he scoffed, kneeling down and sorting through the pocket of a black suits. He pulled out the man's wallet and stole some bills from it. "You and those Polyma sickos might be ok with mindless bloodshed, but some of us have more refined tastes."

He felt something drip onto his face. Looking up, he saw a large bloodstain on the ceiling. It was certainly more blood then should be up there from a knife attack.

"Well, that's certainly impressive" he admitted "What do you think, Emma?"

No response.

"Emma?" Jacob turned from his kneeling position and saw that Emma was gone "Don't tell me you just left you selfish-!"

He felt another blood drop land on his face.

"Cut it out!" he yelled looking up towards the ceiling "You're already dead! Stop-!"

His words caught in his throat at what he saw.

Hanging from the ceiling was a man. It had to be a man. But it was drenched in blood.

All Jacob saw before it pounced down on him was a pair of baby-blue eyes worthy of a movie star, a conductor's hat and a slasher smile.

* * *

 **Near Cheat Lake, West Virginia**

 **Wednesday, 30th December 1931**

 **20:25**

Doktor's body went crashing to the floor on the caboose as Dennis lugged it ahead of him, climbing up the balcony and shutting the balcony door behind him. His anger was still burning, but not as badly, as if the blood soaking through his white uniform had helped to dampen it a little.

"Black suits, the Fusers, what a joke" he scoffed, turning to look at his reflection in the window "It's too late now."

He took his finger and painted war paint stripes under his eyes with blood.

"I'm the monster who's going to devour you all."

No, not enough. He lowered his face to his hand. When he looked up again, there was a bloody handprint across his face. Much better. More…monstrous.

"I have become the Rail Tracer!"

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **11:40**

"A conductor you say?" the president questioned.

"Yeah" Shuin'in nodded "It was wearing a conductor's uniform."

"I see" the president stroked his chin "When you were hanging onto the bottom of the train, and it spoke to you. What did it say?"

Shuin'in squirmed uncomfortably. "It's…stupid."

"I promise I won't laugh" the president promised.

Shuin'in sighed with aggravation, running his hand over her face. "Fine!"

* * *

 **Near Accident, Maryland**

 **Wednesday, 30th December 1931**

 **21:30**

Finally, the urge to blink was too great for the boy, and he let his eyes shut.

When the opened again, the blood-covered thing was just inches from his face.

It then parted its lips – lips too? Almost human then – and muttered something that sent shivers down the boy's spine.

"Your ticket, please."

He screamed with horror and scrambled away under the carriages again as fast as he could so.

Mercifully, the thing didn't follow him.

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **11:40**

Shingo was sure he'd regret it later, but he couldn't help it. He burst out laughing at the absurd statement.

Shuin'in glared at him, then at Shinji, who had slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent him from succumbing to the same fate. Then he turned to the president with the same glare.

"I said I wouldn't laugh" the president pointed out "I never said Mr Sawatari wouldn't laugh."

Shuin'in still scowled, lying back in his seat. "Alright, old man, you got me."

"So, it asked you for your ticket?" the president questioned, nearly sending the editors into hysterics again.

Shuin'in took out another lemon drop from the box and rolled it between his fingers. "Yeah. It must've known I'd gotten on without one."

"Indeed" the president considered this information "Then there's no doubt about it then. That conductor was Vino."

The editors both straightened, eyes bugging out of their heads.

"Are you sure, sir?" Shinji questioned "How can you know that that monster and Vino are one in the same?"

"Part of what makes Vino so terrifying is that he can commit a killing in one city, then suddenly appear in another" the president pointed out "One moment he's in Sacramento. Next thing you know he's in Salt Lake City, or Boston, or Philadelphia. How could he be travelling from city to city without being noticed? What if he was a conductor on a transcontinental express? No tickets would be purchased in his name to prove a link. He could slip unnoticed around the country and be gone before you even knew he was there."

"That's a good point" Shingo admitted "Rumour is he was coming here after Christmas to do a job for the Guatemalans. The timeline certainly fits."

"Vino" Shuin'in tested the name on his tongue "I've heard that name before."

"Vino, also known as Dennis Claire Mackfield, was born into a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles" the president confirmed "His mother was Melissa Claire, a starlet of the early moving pictures" the president told him "She moved there from her native Australia in the hope of staring in bigger pictures and getting her name in bigger lights. Dennis was born at the height of her rise to fame. She met up with a member of a Latin American mob living in the city and Dennis was raised as his son. Until a hit was carried out by a white-supremacist group who took issue with a Latin man courting a white woman, and both parents were killed in front of the young boy."

Shinji winced, thinking of his own kids back home. "Yeah, I could see how that would screw a kid up."

"Dennis was taken in by the Mackfield family, who were long-time allies of the Latin American families in that area" the president went on "He was raised alongside Yuto Mackfield, who was instructed to think of the boy as his older brother. But Dennis never forgot what happened to his real parents."

"Rumour has it he ran away and joined the circus" Shingo reminded him.

"Yes" the president nodded "It was there he trained with acrobats and wrestlers. He gained almost superhuman strength and agility. Something that probably helps him greatly in his job as a professional assassin."

"Professional assassin?" Shuin'in questioned in wonder "That explains a lot."

"Vino is known for the excessive force he uses to kill his victims" the president recalled "He totally destroys the bodies, until they look like they've been soaked in red vine. It's assumed its his way of assuring that he hasn't left the job undone." He turned to Shinji. "Did you confirm that Vino met up with the Guatemalans?"

Shinji nodded. "I did, sir."

* * *

 **Grand Central Station, New York, New York**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **11:00**

"No offence man, but you look like hell" Damon admitted, looking Yugo over. Up closer, he could see what appeared to be a few bruises on his skin and his clothes were a little torn up. Rin's too.

"What happened in there?" Reiji asked, searching the other doors with his eyes for his family disembarking.

Yugo laughed again, patting Reiji's shoulder, but it seemed more weary this time. "Live long enough and we'll tell ya!"

Just as Damon was about to go and hug Rin now, someone came up and tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was his associate, Dobocle.

"What's going on?" Damon frowned "I told you to wait behind, I'm picking him up in the car."

"I caught a cab" Dobocle held up a telegram "We got it just after you left. He's waiting over by the Mexican Consulate."

Damon frowned. "He knows we're Guatemalan right?"

"Don't think he cares" Dobocle shrugged "Let's go."

Damon made his excuses to leave and promised to meet up with the group later, before leaving with Dobocle out a side door. They headed a few streets away down Madison Street until they reached the car park next to the Mexican Consulate. Officially, if they got close enough to the building, they were on Mexican soil, which made prosecuting them for anything said on said soil difficult. Of course, this worked best if you were from the same country as the consulate, but in all fairness, the Guatemalan Consulate was, like, twenty blocks away rather than two.

Waiting in the car park was a man in a long black coat that clashed with his orange hair quite dramatically. You wouldn't know looking at him that not six hours ago he'd been drenched in blood.

"Dennis, mi hermano!" Damon laughed with joy, hugging him.

"Long time no see!" Dennis seemed equally jovial "How's Maria?"

"Getting married now" Damon grinned "And expecting a little one!"

Dennis clapped his hand together in joy. "A wedding! I do love weddings! So did Yuto! I imagine he's so sad to miss it! You must invite me!"

"Wouldn't imagine not, primo!" Dobocle nodded.

"Dobocle!" Dennis now embraced the other man "How are you? Getting ready for the big day!"

"We'll never have it if I let my Mami keep changing things to be 'perfecto'" Dobocle joked "We're trying to have it as soon as possible so Yugo and Rin don't disappear off and miss it."

"Oh, your friends! You must introduce me!" Dennis was practically bouncing up and down on the spot.

"I was going to, but you didn't turn up at the station where they were!" Damon pointed out "Why are you out here anyway? Shouldn't all you conductors be back at the station doing their conductor things?"

"I am not longer a conductor" Dennis announced "In fact, I am not even called Dennis anymore. For Dennis Mackfield died on The Flying Lancer! Killed by some very nasty thugs from Chicago of all places!"

Damon and Dobocle just blinked at him, very confused.

"So…what are we supposed to call you now, primo?" Dobocle finally asked.

"Hmm…" Dennis considered this question "Just Vino will do for now. Or you can call me the Rail Tracer."

The pair of Guatemalans looked at him like he was nuts, but also like they'd come to this conclusion a long time ago.

"Are you kidding me?!" they complained in unison.

"Come on, let's walk" Dennis gestured for them to follow him across the car park "Tell me you have something good for me to do. I'm all warmed up after all that light exercise last night, now I need a real challenge." Suddenly his eyes lit up. "And speaking of weddings! I need to get this job done quickly. I have to find someone here in the city. And if I find them, you could be coming to _my_ wedding soon!"

Damon and Dobocle stared at him, then at each other, each having the same thought.

' _Not this again_.'

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **11:40**

"But I don't understand?"

The president cocked his head to the side. "Dobocle Rivas is the nephew of the man Dennis still calls Father. He's been willing to do favours for the Guatemalan mob for free when he's available."

"No, not that" Shuin'in waved the insinuation off "But why would Vino want to kill people so indiscriminately?"

"They may seem indiscriminate to you" the president told him "But reportedly Vino has his own moral code, a warped sense of justice. If he felt the white suits and black suits endangered the passengers he was protecting, or would delay the train and make him late for his meeting with the Guatemalans, then he mostly likely felt it was his duty as a conductor and to his distant family to kill the people who may cause these unfortunate things to happen."

"I could maybe understand that" Shuin'in admitted "But what the hell would cause him to try and kill a small child?"

The president, who had been writing another note, froze. "A small child?"

"The boy riding the train" Shuin'in reminded him "You should know him. I can't believe he hasn't told you."

"I see" the president said thoughtfully "In that case, then you may have the chance to ask that boy himself someday."

Shuin'in's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"But there are more things to discuss" the president steered the topic away skillfully "We've still yet to hear what caused that nasty injury of yours. Do go on."

* * *

 **Near Hancock, Maryland**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **00:00**

Zarc had been having a rather peaceful time in first class, besides that one bizarre report on the radio that had sent several men in black suits out into the corridor. He had expected to be taken away and interrogated about the army's plans for future weapon developments, or at the very least for the location of Senator Akaba's children.

But it appeared that these men, plus one woman, weren't interested in his army secrets and seemed confident enough that they could locate Ray and Reira themselves.

The only three people left in the room with him was a very large man who appeared to be a bodyguard, Allen and a young lady called Sayaka who kept offering him tea and biscuits before returning to fiddling with a cello case that appeared to belong to her. They seemed completely relaxed, like everything was going to plan and there was nothing to worry about.

Maybe they had a point, because not even a minute into Thursday, Ray Drago was thrown unceremoniously into the suite.

"Ray!" he wanted to run to her side and comfort her, especially since there appeared to be tears running down her face, but he didn't know how the guy with the machine gun by the door would react to that.

"Zarc!" Ray didn't have any such worries, running forward and into his arms "Oh my god, she killed him! She killed him right in front of me!"

"Killed who?!" Zarc's blood ran cold. Reira couldn't be dead, could he?

"A white suit" Ray admitted, to his relief "I'm sorry!"

The 'she' Ray was referring to was a long-haired lady in a black dress who stepped into the suite after her and shut the door behind her. Zarc recalled her having been with the black suits at the station. She didn't say anything, just leant against the wall and looked a little bored.

"I take it you're relieved, Mr Drago" Allen smiled pleasantly, but Zarc knew it was all for show "It wasn't easy, but we managed to rescue your wife from those white suits. It took many lives to do this. Remember that."

Zarc tried his best not to scowl, running is hand through Ray's hair. He didn't care about the lives of stupid train hijackers. He was much more concerned that they apparently found it funny to traumatise a pregnant woman.

"Now we have the whole family back together, we can wait as a group for the sun to rise" Allen told them "As it does, we'll pass a bridge over the Susquehanna River. From that bridge, a signal flare will either be deployed, or it won't."

"And what happens if it does?" Zarc asked.

"Then you will be spared for the moment" Allen told him "A deployed signal means good news from your father-in-law."

Ray now looked up from her tears. "My dad?"

"As we speak, I have members of my group meeting him in his hotel suite in California" Allen confirmed "We're having some…negotiations. His family for ours, essentially. If he agrees to our terms, then the signal will be seen and we'll know that our family is to be released. As second signal in Trenton will confirm he has indeed been released, and we will leave this train in peace. You will all leave this train unharmed to meet the young Mister Akaba at Grand Central. If not…"

Allen paused, looked at the pair, then at the girls who were with him. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision.

"If not, then we'll leave your husband's body on the tracks" he decided, crossing the suite to sit in an armchair "We'll leave the train, and you'll come too, until we can come to an agreement." He leant back in the armchair, apparently mulling over something. "If it's any comfort to you, I'll shoot him myself. And don't do something stupid like ask us to spare him instead of you; we don't need anyone wasting our time, do we?"

Ray looked like she wanted to scream, either at him or the world, even she wasn't sure herself, but it caught in her throat and just came out as a broken sob.

Zarc just fixed Allen with a look of pure hate, absolute rage leaking from every pore, but somewhere down there knowing he was limited in what he could do about Allen's threat.

The girl in black turned her face away, eyes screwing up tight.

* * *

 **Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **02:30**

Unlike everyone else on the train, Yuri had been having quite a nice night. He'd recently obtained a shotgun from a recently deceased Lemure and was now happily hunting for the next one with a nice guy named Ted by his side. Weirdly Ted was the only member of his group he'd seen since leaving Serena and Gloria in the caboose, but no matter. They may just all be in first-class or something.

As he moved back into the freight hold again – maybe they'd all run to hide back in here once he had left, it was possible – he caught sight of something he hadn't expected. A young boy with his arms outstretched, running in the corridor and making aeroplane noises.

What the heck? Was some fabulously rich mother not watching her brat closely enough or something? Big mistake.

"Oi! Brat!" Yuri yelled over to the kid.

Surprisingly, the boy didn't startle and run. Instead he turned to Yuri with the most innocent expression imaginable.

"Hello there, young man" the boy smiled "Can I ask you a favour?"

Yuri appeared stunned silent for a second, certainly for the first time in all the time Ted had known him, before recovering with a sinister grin.

"You've got balls kid" he grinned "Sure, I'll hear you out."

The boy nodded eagerly, then going back to his aeroplane game. He spun on the spot twice before heading into what appeared to be an empty freight hold. Yuri and Ted followed him in, oblivious to the four people in the freight hold next door, and any mysterious music coming from them.

"So kid" Yuri swung his shotgun round so he could lean on it like a cane "What do you want me for?"

"I think you're really strong, mister" the boy admitted "I was in the dinning car when you took down those black suits. You were amazing, sir! I think you could be a champion prizefighter in the ring!"

Yuri was now grinning ear to ear. Not even Serena complimented his fighting skills.

"Is that so?" he nodded, pleased with what he heard "I like it when little kids flatter me."

"My name is Reira-"

"None of that" Yuri cut him off, raising the shotgun ever so slightly again "I came in here because you called me a young man, and I quite liked that and thought you could be a bit of fun. I won't want to hear your mushy sob story. You're in the jaws of the fly trap, kid, so you better keep them open. So make me laugh or cry – whichever option you choose determines whether you live or die."

Reira considered this, then nodded with that innocent expression back on his face again. "Ok, so here it is."

He gestured for Yuri to come closer. Yuri leant further on his shotgun so his ear was inches from Reira's mouth.

"I'm listening" he confirmed.

"Ok, so here it is" Reira told him, eyes smiling up at him "You know all those passengers in the dining car? Can you please kill them for me?"

Yuri shot up to his full height immediately, face slack with shock.

"What?" he stared down at the young boy, struggling to find the words to communicate what was running through his head "D-Do you even know what you're saying, boy?"

Unbeknownst to everyone in the car, behind a stack of crates, the Rail Tracer watched them with interest.


	12. Two Kurosakis plot to control the events

**Chapter Twelve**

"Two Kurosakis plot to control the unfortunate events"

 **Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **02:00** **[00:00 Pacific Standard Time]**

In 1931, officially, there was no such place as Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. However, there was a pre-existing military prison sitting on top of the infamous island that had stood for over a hundred years. It was almost purely reserved for military prisoners, but if you were a special kind of wicked, you could find yourself there.

So, the perfect place to keep the leader of a group of professional assassins then.

Senator Leo Akaba had never been more grateful to have a second son as he was that day. He'd travelled out to California to visit said son at boarding school, dropping in for a few father-son days before sending the boy off to visit his brother and sister in New York. That left Leo a few days to enjoy the sunshine. Mostly from the window of his hotel suite as he caught up on some all-important paperwork.

He couldn't help but wonder if the terrorists holding his family hostage were aware of his movements, as it meant he was in the perfect place to meet with one Prisoner 20193.

The warden had been quite gracious, accepting his request for a visit at such a late hour, but the safety of his family was worth every favour he now owed to the senator for California.

The meeting was to be held one shaky boat ride later on the island itself, in an underground holding cell several guards cheerfully nicknamed The Priest Hole. Leo was taken around the outside the building to avoid contact with any prisoners who may start to speculate and plot about the sudden appearance of an East Coast senator on the island, and hurried down some stairs into a corridor that appeared to take him deep into the limestone rock.

Finally, at the end of the corridor, was a single cell, blocked off by bars. Two guards looked at him curiously, but then stepped aside and pulled the door open for him, pointedly not watching him as he stepped inside.

Inside the cell, someone had placed a large table that clearly wasn't there usually. Shackled to the floor was the only person in the cell besides Leo: a young man, probably in his twenties – that young? Locked up here? What could this young man have done in his short life to send him here? – with long hair down to his shoulders and a look in his eye that seemed somewhere between completely dead and scheming.

"Mr Kurosaki" Leo greeted him, almost holding out a hand to shake before he remembered that the young man's hands were bound. He didn't allow himself the luxury of sitting.

"Senator Akaba" Shun Kurosaki almost let a smile onto his face upon seeing who his visitor was.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "You know me?"

"Senator Akaba, senator for New York" Kurosaki confirmed "Even in Chicago, we have heard of The Butcher of The Common Man."

Leo tried his best not to scowl at the hated nickname. He couldn't control the Wall Street Crash, and despite the rumours in New York, he was not in fact sitting on top of a pile of money sipping champagne with President Hoover whilst millions of hungry citizens starved below him.

"So you know me" Leo pretended to nod along "Then you'll know why I'm here."

"I'm afraid I have no idea" Kurosaki leant back in his chair "I don't make it a habit to associate with lowlifes like yourself."

Only the knowledge that keeping this man happy was perhaps the only way to save his son and daughter was keeping Leo from reaching across the table and smashing the brat's head into the table.

"It appears you have some…loyal followers upset about your arrest" Leo told him, not sure how to say ' _Your trained group of assassin groupies are pissed off about your arrest and have taken my family and half a trans-continental express hostage to complain about it_.'

Kurosaki now let the smile cross his face fully, not even trying to hide it. "Alright, what have the Lemures done now?"

"They have hijacked a trans-continental express" Leo told him "They are holding some of the passengers hostage in return for your release."

Now Kurosaki was positively smirking. "I always did admire Allen for his grand schemes. Too rash though, it will get him in trouble one day."

Finally, Leo couldn't hold back his irritation anymore. "My son and daughter are on that train, you piece of shit."

"Oh, really?" Now Kurosaki really did seem curious "Since when did Senator Akaba care about his family? Last I checked the only thing that mattered to you was wealth and power."

Leo was about to bark back an answer, until he realised that was exactly was Kurosaki wanted. He forced himself to relax and act courteous.

"Mr Kurosaki, call off your dogs" he all but pleaded "You can't end up in a worse place than you are now."

"There's no need for that" Kurosaki told him.

Leo tried to not to show visible panic at that statement "Mr Kurosaki, don't-"

"That's no need for pleading, Senator" Kurosaki told him, suddenly seemed more serious and solemn "Their plan will not succeed."

Leo's panic started to shift into curiousity. "How can you know that? Are you in contact with them?"

"In a way" Kurosaki admitted "It will not succeed, because if they are indeed aboard that train, then so is my sister."

Sister? Did Kurosaki have a sister? Yes, he did, didn't he? One of the few high-ranking members of the Kurosaki clan not arrested during the initial sweep of their organisation.

"Your sister?" Leo frowned "She's not a Lemure, is she?"

"No, Allen set that particular faction up" Kurosaki admitted "But much of my former organisation is loyal to her, and he needs her support to retain power. She will be there with him."

"But as your sister, surely she's the one who wants you released the most, right?" Leo questioned.

"Oh no, she wants me right here" Kurosaki admitted.

Leo couldn't fathom it. "Your little sister wants you in jail? Why?"

Kurosaki sighed wistfully. "Yuto Mackfield."

"Your second-in-command" Leo recognised the name "What does he have to do with it?"

"He was to be my brother-in-law next year" Kurosaki told him "When the lovely Chicago police did their sweep, Yuto was not impressed at being taken into custody. Somewhere between his safehouse and the police station, he was smothered to death. No inquest, of course. But Ruri blames me for it – it was apparently my fault the arrests were happening in the first place, and if they weren't, then Yuto would have never been put in a position to be smothered in the process. So, me spending a little time in prison for my perceived crimes is exactly what she thinks the doctor ordered."

Leo wanted to point out the lack of logic in that, but then realised applying logic to a family of hitmen and bootleggers probably wasn't a smart idea for his sanity.

"My sister has a sentimental heart" Shun told him "She won't stand for Allen to hurt innocents. Once she realises he intends to do so, or she finds him insincere, she will act accordingly."

To Leo's alarm, his pulled one hand free of the shackles – hadn't it been locked? – and placed it over the side of his face and his eyes turned steely.

Outside the window, a flock of bird took flight, a legion of doves. Amongst them, a jet-black raven.

"Now, Ruri…you will not falter."

* * *

 **Near Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **02:00**

In the first-class carriage, Ruri had been leaning against the wall of the Lemures' suite, keeping an eye on Allen, Sayaka and the Dragos. Suddenly, she stood up fully, and appeared to be listening to something, even though the only sound in the air was the train rattling along the tracks.

"You ok, Ruri?" Sayaka asked her, as Allen eyed her wearily.

Ruri ignored them both and left the suite. She kept going until she reached the end of the carriage. Using a ladder attached to the outside, she climbed up to the roof of the carriage. Despite the fierce wind, she stood at the edge of the roof of the first-class carriage, eyes fixed on the carriages beyond.

Her eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously. She drew a knife from her dress and let it gleam in the light from the snow.

* * *

 **Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **02:30**

Along the train in the freight car, Yuri was staring down at young Reira, face somewhere between impressed and slack-jawed horror.

"So what do you think, sir?" Reira asked, climbing up on top of a crate so he was on Yuri's eye-level "I can pay you, if that's that you're worried about."

Yuri gaped like a fish for a moment more, before a grin spread across his face again. "You're not a normal little kid, are you?"

Reira seemed to relax a bit, like he was shrugging off a heavy coat. He ditched the innocent little kid look and slumped down on top of the crate he was stood on, leaning with one arm on his raised knee like the best of mafia dons.

"Oh good, you get it" he seemed to almost sigh with relief as he spoke "Not many people get it. Even my adopted family. They love me, but when I act myself they get frightened."

"Well you don't scare me" Yuri told him "So, the people in the dining car? I could've sworn you were in there before. They piss you off or something?"

"The men in the black suits are here for my sister" Reira admitted "I only just met her, but I like her. And I'm pretty sure they won't ransom her properly – they'll kill her and my unborn niece or nephew as soon as they get a whiff of a ransom, only to probably end up with nothing because they can't complete the trade. If they have to die for something, it shouldn't be at the hands of some incompetents."

"And the people in the dining car?" Yuri tried again, as Reira still hadn't answered the question "You think they're in league with them or something?"

"No, they're scared bystanders" Reira shrugged "Well, there may be some undercover, but the bystanders are the worst. They're all the most important person in their words. My sister escaped the black suits, but she may end up back with them again if one nosy bystander thinks that handing her over to them will spare their own lives."

"You're doing all this for your sister?" Yuri pondered, a glimmer of recognition in his eyes.

"I barely know her" Reira shrugged "But she seems nice enough. And Reiji and my dad would probably get all upset about it if she died."

"Killing to avoid annoying siblings and parents' wrath" Yuri seemed delighted at this prospect "Looks like you and me got something in common, kid."

"I thought so" Reira just smiled up at him "So, you kill the passengers in the dining car, as well as the black suits. The other passengers on the train don't know who she is or who wants her. My sister has nothing to worry about anymore."

"And what's to say I won't just kill your sister?" Yuri pointed out, swinging his shotgun over his shoulder again.

"You won't" Reira shrugged confidently "Because then you won't get what I can give you/"

Yuri now seemed curious. "You think you can buy your sister's life?"

"Not with money" Reira corrected his thoughts "With destruction." He signalled Yuri to move closer. "My sister's husband is an army man. He's carrying a bomb on this train."

Yuri frowned. "A bomb? Are you kidding me?"

Reira jumped off the crate he was sitting on and pulled back the lid. Sure enough, packed in enough straw to stock a horse farm, Yuri could just see a gleam of brassy metal shining up at him. Before he could get a closer look, though, Reira slammed the lid down again and sat back on top of the crate again.

"That's all you're getting just now" Reira waggled his finger at him "Help me, and it's yours to keep." He learnt forward, meeting Yuri's eyes with his own. "You love destruction. You love human life so much you have to take it, own it, make it your masterpiece. Think about how many you could kill with a bomb. How many lives you can claim." A thought seemed to occur to him midway through his speech. "Your sister, who you love so much. Who you want to kill more than anyone. Give her to most beautiful death you can think of. A firecracker of a woman, her life stolen in a roar of fire."

Yuri seemed almost spellbound by the images flooding his head.

"You, kid-" He said breathily, barely able to speak or look at Reira in the blissful state he was in.

And then he lowered his shotgun to be level with Reira's head.

"You were so close" Yuri sighed reluctantly "But in the end, I couldn't do it. I couldn't stand the way your eyes honestly thought I wouldn't do this!"

As he went to pull the trigger, Reira's face went from playful and calculating to irritated and sour. He kicked forward and struck Yuri right in the groin. Before the man could recover, Reira jumped up, ran straight past the stunned Ted who was supposed to be guarding the door and was halfway to first-class before Yuri could stand up straight again.

"A lot of use you are" Yuri scoffed at his companion "You couldn't even catch a small child." He now levelled his shotgun at Ted. "Why shouldn't I kill you, right now?"

"Why did you turn him down?" Ted asked, unflinching in the face of death.

Yuri seemed thrown off a second. "What?"

"That was a good offer" Ted pointed out "Why didn't you take the kid up on it? What's wrong with a bomb?"

Yuri scoffed and marched over to the crate. He yanked the lid open and seized the metal object inside. To Ted's shock, he threw the cylindrical object down on the freight hold's floor. It bounced up and almost hit the ceiling, then rolled a few more feet to a halt.

"It's a fake" he told him "Made out of cast iron. There's probably dozens of them used as decoys for the real one in here."

"So he lied to us?" Ted guessed.

"Maybe he did intend to sell us the real one" Yuri shrugged "I don't care." He placed a hand over his face. "But that face! THAT FACE! So certain that he couldn't be killed! I have to do it! I just had to!" He whirled on Ted with malice in his eyes. "I hate that! HATE IT! Staring death in the face and yet so certain of his own immortality! Only I get to look like that! Me and me alone!"

"Hey, Yuri, you in there?" Gloria now poked her head into the freight hold.

Yuri almost swore. She was supposed to be with Serena. Don't tell him she'd seen him screw up so monumentally. Serena would never let him live it down.

"What do you want?" he finally asked in a voice dripping with resigned irritation.

"You should see this chick on top of the train" Gloria waved him over towards the window.

Yuri frowned. Chick on top of the train? Did she mean a human female? They'd need superhuman muscle strength to withstand the winds up there.

He poked his head out the window, and clearly saw a female silhouette near the head of the train.

He grinned.

Sounded like a challenge.

* * *

 **Near Hagerstown, Maryland**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **01:00**

Yuya turned back to Yuzu and stepped forward until he was right in front of her, her body sandwiched between him and the walk. "Hey, Yuzu. I'll be right back, so don't worry."

Before his nerves could fail him, he kissed her right on the mouth. Not allowing her time to respond however, he quickly hurried out the carriage, Noburu running behind him.

"Yuya, that sly dog" Meiru just grinned lecherously at him.

She looked over her shoulder at Yuzu, who appeared to a million shades of red in the face.

"Didn't realise you were such a roundheel, Boss" Meiru joked.

However, Yuzu just ducked her head and ran out of the carriage. "That was our first kiss!"

It took a second for Meiru to process this, then she was off on Yuzu's heels.

"Whatta you mean that was your first kiss!" she demanded, but by the time she'd made her way to the outside of the carriage, Yuzu was already clambering up to the roof "You've been an item for ten years and he's never planted one on you?! I mean there's being gentlemanly and then there's just plain stupid!"

Yuzu completed ignored her, climbing up onto the roof and vanishing.

"Hey!" Meiru, struggling with her small size to make it up after her "I'm not done with you either princess!"

* * *

 **Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **02:30**

Ruri was a relatively petite figure compared to her Lemure associates, but she held her ground against the wind pushing against her at around ninety miles per hour as if it was nothing. Her eyes searching, face blank, lips pressed in a tight line, fist tight around her knife.

"Ruri" she could hear Shun's voice in her head "Why are you up here?"

' _The white suits may try and attack the first-class carriage from the roof_ ' she spoke out loud in her head in reply.

"You are protecting Allen and the fools that call themselves Lemures?" Shun's voice seemed somewhere between incredulous and smirking with amusement "You know they intend to kill you once this is over, right?"

' _I know_ ' Ruri replied ' _Allen has grown hungry with power in your absence. For me to die in a failed attempt to free you is exactly what he needs to turn the rest of our family against us and to him. We mean nothing to him anymore_.'

Shun's voice chuckled. "Very good, little sister."

' _People like Allen took Yuto away from me_ ' Ruri continued ' _Though you are to blame in part for that, you are now the only one who loves me. You need to be punished, but you are my only family. I will not allow anyone to take you from me_.'

Shun's voice turned low and considering. "Are you saying, you will protect me with your life?"

' _I have lost my Yuto, and whilst you repent for the part you played in me losing him, I have lost you, for now_ ' Ruri told him determinedly ' _I have lost Sayaka, and Allen, to the sickness of loyalty and power. I have lost everything that is mine. I am not afraid of anything_.'

She turned the knife in her hand once.

Shun's voice didn't call out to her again.

* * *

"So, there are no open windows and they are all locked from the inside" Yuzu reviewed the situation "The door between the locomotive and first-class is locked. The only way into first-class is from the dining car entrance. That sound right?"

She turned back to where Meiru was sitting on the bed of the abandoned second-class suite they'd taken shelter in. Surprisingly, she was sipping from a cup of tea.

"What are you doing?" Yuzu couldn't help but ask.

"Windows in first-class are locked" Meiru pointed out "But dining car's another story. I had Michio pass me a cuppa."

Yuzu nearly facepalmed. The dining car was still under the watchful gaze of the black suits. How did Meiru manage to grab a cup of tea without them noticing? How did Michio produce a cup of tea then make it disappear without them noticing?

"Ok" she sighed, then a thought occurred to her "Wait. Michio's been riding this train for years, right?"

Meiru made some sort of mumble of agreement behind her cup.

"So he may know a way to get into first-class other than through the death door" Yuzu suggested "A window that can be jimmied open from the outside or something."

Meiru considered this. "It's not a stupid idea. So, back to the dining car then?"

"Drink your tea first" Yuzu suggested "No point in wasting good tea. If we're not careful it may be your last tea ever."

If Meiru swallowed her mouthful a little prematurely at that statement, Yuzu chose not to comment on it.

Once Meiru was done, they began to climb up onto the roof of the dining car, planning to stick their heads through the open window Meiru had her cup of tea passed through earlier. But Meiru hadn't even gotten her head over the lip of the carriage roof before Yuzu pushed it down again.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"Shh!" Yuzu hissed "There's someone up there!"

Meiru couldn't believe her. She peered up over the top of the carriage roof. Sure enough, there was a lady in a black dress standing on top of the first-class carriage, holding a knife longer than Meiru's forearm. She had a dead look in her eyes, like she was a million miles away, but still hyper focused on everything in that lay before her, like a queen surveying her kingdom.

If she'd noticed the girls crouched behind the dining car's roof, then she didn't give any indication.

"Great, so now we can't go on the roof either?" Meiru almost scowled "Great. So what do we do, boss? Go back through the carriages and find Yuya?"

Yuzu twisted to look back down the train, and her eyes went wide as she saw something.

"Oh no" she groaned "We're trapped."

Meiru turned her head, just in time for Yuri Polyma to pump his shotgun into the air.

"Well hello there, little lady!" he called up the train to the woman in black "That's a really nice dress your wearing! But aren't you a little cold up here?"

The woman didn't reply. She didn't even bat an eyelid, like Yuri was such a non-entity he wasn't worth her attention.

"Wait for me, princess!" Yuri yelled to her as he began running up the train, balancing on the rooves of the carriages like a pro acrobat "Since you're all dressed up like an orchestra, this must be a performance tailor-made for me! And you must be the main event, climbing all the way up to the roof for little old ME!"

On the punctuated word, he bounded right over the gap between the second-class carriage and the dining car, passing right over Meiru and Yuzu's heads. He either didn't notice them, or was too wrapped up in his new conquest to notice them.

He kissed the barrel of his shotgun with reverence. "I'll take it! I accept! I accept this love from this woman!" He then lowered his shotgun towards the young lady's head with a sadistic smile. "But you must accept my love as well!"

The woman still wasn't batting an eyelid, as if psychopaths pointing shotguns at her was a regular occurrence in her day.

"I love you!" Yuri called to her "Now you die!"

He pulled the trigger, and a bullet flew the length of the dining car towards the young woman.

It never made contact though.

Yuri blinked as he heard the sound of metal hitting metal. The young hand now raised her knife in front of her head, his deployed bullet nowhere to be seen. The young woman's eyes had gone from blank to hateful in a split second.

Yuri appeared to appreciate this new look. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

The young woman reached behind her and pulled a knife out of the back of her dress. She didn't hesitate before throwing it right at Yuri's chest.

Yuri, likewise, didn't disappoint. He just raised he leg and stomped down on the knife with his boot, grinding it into the roof of the carriage with about as much care as you would squash a bug. "That's it, baby! Just like that!"

He bent down and picked up the knife.

"Well, this is embarrassing" he muttered to himself, still grinning though "I have to kill her."

He licked the knife whilst retaining complete eye contact with the young woman. She crinkled her nose in disgust at him defiling one of her knives in such a way.

"I'm coming for you, baby!" he warned her as he jumped to his feet and ran at her.

The young woman produced a third knife and ran towards him again, poised to strike.

"Come on and die!" Yuri demanded, shooting several more rounds from his shotgun at her.

The young woman either dodged or blocked every single one of them.

"Is that really happening?!" Yuri seemed shocked but still delighted as he reared back out of the way of a knife swipe that would've taken his head off "Seriously?!"

He tried to swipe the young woman's leg out from under her, but she jumped back out of his reach. However, now she was so close to the edge of the carriage roof she was going to have to either jump to the side or attack him. Yuri guessed attacking him would be a more likely move than retreat. Sure enough, the young woman surged forwards again, but this time Yuri's leg swipe knocked her back across the carriage roof, close to where Yuzu and Meiru were hiding.

"Now then!" Yuri grinned maliciously "I-"

He didn't get any further than that, as a rotating train signal smashed into his back. He seemed winded and tried to duck under it, but it grabbed him by the collar and swung him round in a half-circle. He dropped out of sight towards the back of the train, laughter still booming in the air.

The young woman immediately picked herself up and chased after him across the carriage rooves.

Yuzu and Meiru watched after them both in stunned silence.

"What the hell did we just watch?" Meiru couldn't help but ask.

However they both froze when they heard a rifle cocking behind them, on the porch from second-class.

"Well, what do we have here?" Meiru turned to see the other female Lemure, the one in the purple dress with glasses, beaming innocently up at them "Look who's been sneaking around aboard the train. Why don't you ladies come back here with me and we can talk about these naughty activities of yours?"


	13. Reira gains a guardian angel

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Reira gains a guardian angel while Serena cleans up her brother's messes"

 **Near New Oxford, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **03:00**

Allen really needed to get better help. It was true that the only people he'd been able to recruit into the Lemures for this mission, besides the girls, were a bunch of disloyal traitors; but all those fools needed to do was secure a train whilst he made ransom negotiations. He wasn't exactly asking them to conquer Troy.

So, how come all of his men had apparently deserted him in first-class besides Spencer? Not only that, but they weren't even picking up the radio.

"Sir?" finally a voice crackled out from the radio on the dresser "Mr Allen, are you there?"

Allen glanced at Spencer and silently told him to watch the Dragos as he headed over to put the headphones on. No need to have the hostages overhearing everything.

"There you are" he told them gruffly "How many of you are there?"

"Just the three of us" the voice on the other end replied; Allen for the life of his couldn't remember who it belonged to "And we found Noro."

Allen's eyebrows nearly climbed up into his hair. Noro had been supposed to be manning the radio in the freight car, but he hadn't heard a wink from him for hours.

"Tell him I'm disappointed in his work ethic" Allen instructed them.

"We can't, sir" the voice replied "He's missing his legs."

Allen pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't care how legless he's feeling, he-"

"No, sir, he's literally missing his legs" the voice cut him off "Dead in the freight car, his legs torn off. And we can't find the others that were with him."

Allen couldn't process what he was hearing. That level of brutality? Allen was an assassin, but he was clean. Why would a human being ever have to resort to that amount of violence for a kill? A shot to the head would be just as effective and nowhere near as exhausting or dangerous.

Allen already had a low opinion of this guy.

"It must be Polyma" he recalled "That level of violence I can't imagine it could be anyone else."

"Which one, sir?" the voice asked.

Allen was taken aback. "They're _both_ on this train?"

"Yes, sir" the voice could practically be seen nodding "We have confirmed sightings of both of them."

Allen swore. "Both of them are equally bad news. Not to mention a match for Ruri."

He took of his headphones and ran a hand through his hair. His simple ransom mission was going up in smoke faster than sausages on a barbeque manned by Shun.

He finally made up his mind.

"Well they both need to go, along with Ruri" he confirmed "Take them all out on sight."

"Will do so, sir" the voice agreed with him one last time before the radio at the other end was turned off.

Allen sighed with aggravation. At least he still had the Dragos, there was that. And whoever Sayaka had tied up in the next suite.

You know what, interrogating some hapless prisoners sounded pretty damn therapeutic right now.

With Spencer watching the prisoners, he crossed the hallway to Sayaka's suite. In there she was sat with her rifle, using the butt of it to interrogate two women tied together in the middle of the floor.

"Get real" Sayaka scoffed "You're telling me you saw a red monster and that's what's killing my friends? Give me break!"

"I'm telling the truth, you asshat!" the ginger with curly hair all but snarled up at Sayaka "There really is a red monster on board this train killing people!"

Allen sighed again. So much for therapeutic.

* * *

"Will do so, sir" the Lemure that had been talking to Allen on the radio turned the device off and turned to his two companions in the freight car "We have our orders. Kill the Polymas and Ruri."

"Are we really doing this?" the youngest of the Lemures questioned "Are we really killing one of our own?"

"I was wondering that too!"

The three didn't even have time to look up at the roof before a figure in white jumped down, a knife slashing through the throat of the Lemure Allen had been talking to, killing him outright. The youngest Lemure tried to flee, but the knife turned against his throat before he could get to the door.

"Uh, uh" Serena Polyma wagged his finger at him "Don't get cute with me."

The last guy didn't stay to try and help his friend. Instead he fled for his life into the next carriage.

"Aw, your friend didn't stay for the party" Serena seemed disappointed "That's a shame. But I only really need you anyway."

She pressed the knife a little deeper against the terrified Lemure's throat, leaving a little red line.

"Some bitch in black just tossed my brother halfway down the train and dislocated his shoulder" she told him "And know _he's_ whining like a bitch about it. I figured she was one of yours, so I came looking for to find out about her. But here I come to find you want her dead too. So-"

She backed the young Lemure into a stack of creates.

"A beautiful killing machine like that" Serena smiled curiously "Why do you want to lose her?"

* * *

Along the train in third-class, Reira Akaba was sitting on a bench in a viewing room, feeling like the single worst human being on the planet.

He'd failed to convince the white suits to protect his sister. And now not only did they want him dead for some reason, but they would now probably target Ray and her husband simply to get back at him.

In the years before Leo Akaba adopted him, he'd dealt with numerous criminals and lowlifes. He thought this would just require tapping into that old feral spirit again. But these white guys were a breed of sicko too much for even Reira to comprehend.

As he wondered this, he heard a scuff behind him. He turned on the bench and his eyes nearly flew out of his head as he made eye contact with a man completely dripping with blood standing behind him.

"H-Hello mister" Reira stuttered nervously – it hadn't escaped his notice that this stranger was wearing white, but there was something weird about him compared to the other white suits on the train "My name is Benjamin. What's your name?"

"Come on little boy, there's no need to lie to me" the man covered in blood just smiled sinisterly "Right, Reira Akaba?"

Reira's blood ran cold. "You know my name?" He gasped and covered his mouth as it all hit him. "Are you the Rail Tracer?"

"That's right" the man nodded, sitting next to the terrified Reira on the bench "And I heard you want to kill the passengers on this train."

Reira could only just choke out the worlds. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Mr Rail Tracer!"

The Rail Tracer smiled sinisterly at the young boy. "I know you're no kid, and you're not killing the passengers on this train."

His hand shot out and grabbed Reira by the throat.

"Because you're going to die, instead."

* * *

 **Near Green Springs, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **03:15**

In the dining car, there was a distinct sight missing that had been there for several hours. The two black suits guarding it had taken a few steps towards the door, only to be mowed down by gunfire by two white suits with tommy guns.

"Well, the black suits have had their fun" Ted, one of the white suits declared "Time for us to have some too." He pointed his tommy gun at the passengers in the dining car, who seemed less afraid and more exasperated by yet another takeover. "Hey! Give us your money!"

"And flash us your tits too!" Ethan, the other white suits, also yelled.

The two looked at each other, then laughed.

Ethan's laughter was cut off though, as the door he'd just come through opened again, but this time with enough force to smash him in the head and knock him unconscious.

Ted startled and tried to turn around, but didn't even complete the full spin before a massive fist smashed him on the side of his head and also knocked him unconscious.

Noburu Gongenzaka pushed his way through the doorframe into the dining car. Two second later, Yuya Sakaki also walked in, picked up one of the white suits' tommy guns and pointed it at the still exasperated passengers.

"This train is now under our authority!" Yuya loudly announced.

"Think you might be pushing it a bit far" Noburu pointed out how Yuya was shaking like a leaf as he spoke.

Michio poked his head over the bar top, eyes wide with delight. "Yuya! There you are! Are the girls with you?"

Yuya's face fell. "They're not here? Where did they go?"

Michio took his finger and pointed it at first-class.

* * *

Reira didn't think he could be truly scared after everything that had happened in his childhood. He thought he'd been desensitised to everything by now.

Staring at the sleepers racing past inches from his face, Reira rapidly re-evaluated his conclusions about his mental state.

He outright wailed in terror, pushing back at the hand holding him by the back of his throat. The tops of his feet slid about on the rail of the balcony of the caboose, trying to get traction on something and failing. He just didn't stand a chance against someone so much bigger and more skilled than him.

He wasn't ashamed to say he was crying. He'd had aspirations about living longer than age twelve. He'd liked living with the Akabas. He'd liked his new sister, who was now probably dead thanks to him. He'd just liked living for his last few years – liked living for the first time ever.

And now, thanks to his weakness, he had to give that up.

Just as he was expecting death to rise up from the rails and grab him, he heard the Rail Tracer gasp in surprise and let go of his collar. But before Reira could plummet to his grisly death, a small hand grabbed his collar and pulled him up again, yanking him over the rail and onto the balcony again.

"Come on!" the voice belonging to his saviour yelled "Run!"

Reira ran, glancing back to see his saviour, who didn't look that many years older than him, climbing off the Rail Tracer where he'd leapt onto his back from the roof of the caboose. The young man seized Reira's hand and began to run for the door at the end of the caboose, but before they could get there, the Rail Tracer backflipped into their path.

"That doesn't belong to you" the Rail Tracer pointed out, looking at Reira and then back to his saviour "It's not good to steal things."

"Leave him alone!" Reira's saviour yelled back in the monster's face, stepping between it and its prey "I won't allow you to defile this train any longer!"

The Rail Tracer seemed taken aback by the strange use of words. "Defile? Who are you?"

The young man's face screwed up with hate. "My name is Sora Shuin'in and I love the rails as much as my father did! And I won't allow you to desecrate them with blood any longer!"

The Rail Tracer blinked, apparently stunned. "Shuin'in? As in-?"

"Don't you speak his name!" Sora screamed at him "You don't get to speak his name, you monster that taints the rails and dares dress up like a conductor!"

Reira suddenly realised why something had seemed off about this man's white suit. It wasn't a suit at all, but a conductor's uniform, just missing the signature hat.

The Rail Tracer pondered this. "Yes, yes I'm a conductor, aren't I? Which means I have to protect the train…"

There was a long pause where the only sounds were that of the train racing through the night air and…the sound of a woman yelling from somewhere?

"Thank you, young Shuin'in" the Rail Tracer reached down to the floor and picked up a conductor's hat stained with blood around the edges. He hung to up on a hook on the wall and smile at it. "You've just reminded me why I'm here. I'm of no use to anyone tormenting little kids who already failed." He smiled at Sora, stepping very close to him and causing Reira to take a step back. "Pity you aren't a girl, or I would've asked you to marry me."

Sora made some sort of throaty noise between shock and disgust.

Reira didn't stick around for any longer than that. He raced past his distracted guardian angel and would-be killer and fled the caboose.

Sora just glared up at the Rail Tracer. "Get the hell out of my face, monster."

The Rail Tracer just backed off with a shrug. "Suit yourself. But I'm no monster. I've only killed the white and black suits – those that deserve it."

"Don't lie to me!" Sora spat "What could a kid have done to deserve being killed?!"

The Rail Tracer consisted this and shrugged, stepping out of Sora's path to the door. "Not my place to tell. You should catch up to him and ask him yourself."

Sora considered this, then took the opening offered to him. He walked out of the caboose, then proceeded to scurry along the side of the freight cars like a champion of spiders.

Dennis sighed and checked his watch. It was over an hour before he had to give the all-clear signal to the drivers. Those fools probably thought everything was all hunky-dory up there. Well, with Dennis around they had nothing to worry about.

He was grateful to that young man. He'd been so distracted playing with Reira he'd neglected his duty to the passengers aboard this train. Reira was no longer a threat to them, but the black and white suits were. He had to get back to them and assure his passengers didn't come to harm.

Just before he moved though, he was startled by the feeling of something pinching his ear.

He knew better than to scream, but did step away from the pinch and feel up at his ear. He could feel a clear knick through the top of the pinna.

Sure enough, there was a large knife lodged in the wall of the caboose from the outside, not stained with a little of Dennis' blood.

The knife then was yanked out, and reappeared a few feet up the wall, pushing through the wood and sending splinters flying everywhere.

Dennis' jaw might have been on the floor. "What the hell?"

* * *

Ruri had made her way along the train like a cat, trying to spy any sign of Yuri. But he appeared to have simply vanished. Had he fallen from the train? It seemed unlikely for someone so agile.

"Oh Ruuuuriiii!"

Ruri, who had made it to the leading edge of the caboose roof, turned to see a young lady in a white dress clambering to the roof of the carriage behind her. The only thing she had with her was a small knife. The same knife Yuri had taken from her.

A member of the white suits then. Someone Yuri trusted.

"Well isn't it nice to meet you" the young lady shot her a little salute and smirked, still only appearing head and shoulders over the edge of the carriage roof "My name's Serena Polyma. And I've got mighty respect for anyone who can throw my brother hard enough to dislocate a shoulder."

So this was Yuri's sister then. And Yuri had dislocated his shoulder? Good – even if it wasn't a complete break then he may be reluctant to throw himself into the fight again.

"But, you see, you hurt my brother" Serena continued "And only I'm allowed to make him squeal, which means I have to hate you. So I respect you, but hate you too. You see my problem?" She used the butt of the knife to scratch the side of her head. "I don't know, thinking's not my strong suit, really. At least not compared to Yuri. But unlike him, I know how to interrogate." She lifted up something she was holding in her left hand. It turned out to be the head of a young Lemure, clearly dead in Serena's grip. "My little friend here sang all about you, didn't you?" She moved the corpse's head up and down, giving it the impression of nodding, as she lifted her voice into a mocking impression of the dead man. "Oh yes, Miss Serena! I told you everything! We had so much fun together!"

Ruri scowled with disgust. Clearly this whole family was a bad seed that needed to be plucked from the earth before it could poison the whole orchard.

"He talked and he talked and he talked, heck, I could barely get him to shut up!" Serena laughed, throwing the corpse off the side of the train "He told me all about you, Ruri Kurosaki. How you're unparalleled in skill with a knife. How your black suits friends want you dead, and the feeling is mutual. How you lost your fiancé recently – sorry about that by the way. Oh, and how you're the prized possession of one Shun Kurosaki."

Ruri clenched her jaw. That idiot had talked about Shun? What had he said?

"I never met Kurosaki" Serena admitted, clambering onto the roof to stand opposite Ruri "But Yuto – I was the only one he would ever meet with. I think he was afraid to go up against Yuri and loose a negotiation. But he used to talk about Kurosaki all the time to me. What a great leader he was, how strong he was, how the only thing that compared to that strength was his love for the good of humanity." Serena scoffed. "If I had to sit through any more of that sugary crap then I would've barfed. If he didn't talk about you just as much I'd think he was _in love_ with Kurosaki or something."

Ruri's grip on her knives tightened as she glared at Serena. Nobody got to talk bad of her Yuto; certainly not this cretin.

"But you, he would only talk about you in vague terms" Serena admitted "Even used a fake name. Bet he thought he was protecting you or some crap like that. But you don't need protecting, do you?" A particularly evil grin spread across her face. "After all, you're Shun Kurosaki's favourite bulldog, aren't you?"

Ruri's eyes might've taken on a manic gleam at her words. Serena didn't let up, crossing to the caboose to stand right in Ruri's face.

"Because that's all you are, a useful pet" Serena grinned "How useful is it that you're on this train, weeding out the disloyal traitors for him whilst he kicks back in a prison he could escape from whenever he wanted. You're just a tool to use whenever he likes it."

Ruri gritted her teeth, refusing to break. Had she had the same thoughts before? Yes, of course. Shun wasn't exactly an easy person to love, nor to accept love from. But more importantly, she wasn't about to let this freak know that.

"Don't worry, I know what it's like to have a complicated family" Serena smiled, running a hand over the immobile Ruri's cheek uncomfortably "I thought about killing you, but that would be like killing myself, so that's silly. Unlike your Lemure friends, you have something besides yourself to fear for. So once I get off this train, I'm going to kill Shun Kurosaki."

Ruri's eyes widened with alarm and she reached up to put her knife right through Serena's throat; but Serena raised a knee and kicked her in the face, right back across the caboose onto her back.

"I mean, look at you, you're so weak you can't even hit me" Serena laughed as Ruri picked herself up "According to that weakling back there, you didn't even want to go through with this whole ransom plan in the first place! In fact, neither did your beloved Shun!" Serena stepped back to avoid another knife swipe and grabbed Ruri's arm, blocking her from attacking again. "See, with Yuri, it's all about how much fight you have. He figures, the more you want to fight, you more certain you are that you can't die, just like him. But with me, it's all about strength. _Real_ strength. And you – you don't have any strength, inside or out. Just like your brother, hiding in the shadows and letting his baby sister do the work for him. So I'm going to make sure to kill him right in front of you. Maybe then you'll be strong enough to face me."

Ruri wasn't going to stand for that talk. She whirled around with her other arm and tried to stab at Serena's unguarded side. But Serena was prepared for that and now kneed Ruri in the back. It was with a little more force than she intended though, and knocked Ruri right off the side of the train.

Serena's face turned from outright delighted to disappointed.

"Aww, that's it?" she frowned "I wanted more."

She put her hands in her pockets (well, imaginary pockets. Her dress didn't have pockets, but she could pretend) and began to trek towards the end of the caboose to descend to ground level.

SHUNK!

Serena paused at the unexpected noise.

SHUNK!

Again, that noise.

She turned fully and began making her way towards the spot where Ruri had fallen from the train.

SHUNK!

This time the noise was punctuated by a sight. The sight in question: a knife puncturing the roof of the caboose.

A moment later, Ruri Kurosaki, with murder in her eyes, pulled herself back up to the roof, knives a little scuffed from their climb up the side of the caboose.

"Now that's why I'm talking about!" Serena laughed with delight "You're getting the hang of it now!"

Ruri stood tall, knives raised. One appeared to be dripping with a little blood, which just made her look more dangerous even without the menacing look on her face.

"So come on!" Serena cheered, spreading her arms out wide "Come at me you-!"

She cut herself off, face falling with shock.

Ruri didn't let herself consider why. She raised her hand and prepared to surge forward towards the prey that had dared insult her boys.

But she couldn't move.

She tried to run forward, but she couldn't move her right arm. Something was gripping on the handle of her knife along with her, brushing her fingers ever so slightly, and refusing to let her move.

She turned with some trepidation, to come face-to-face with a man drenched in blood.


	14. Two killers debate the virtues of life

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Dennis and Serena debate the virtues of life and happiness"

 **Near Abbottstown, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **03:30**

Ruri stared in shock and bewilderment at the man right next to her, blood dropping from what appeared to be a conductor's uniform. However, his only injury appeared to be a knick in his ear, which clearly wasn't the source of all the blood.

"Oi, pretty lady" the man addressed her "Don't stab knives into the conductor's cab – you nearly took my head off." He gestured at his bleeding ear. "It's just not very nice, you know."

Ruri stare up at him blankly. Serena's face has contorted into an unsettling look of bafflement.

The man's face now turned nasty. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Are you going to apologise or not?"

Ruri pointed up at her throat with his knife and shook her head, hoping the message would get across.

The man looked confused for a second, then bowed his head in what appeared to be a little shame.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise" he apologised.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he strolled right past her and towards Serena.

"Who the hell are you?!" Serena finally found her voice and demanded to him.

The man looked at her. "You can call me the Rail Tracer if you like, pretty girl."

Serena spat in disgust. "Are you serious, you creep?"

The Rail Tracer just shrugged and strolled right past her.

The two women stared after him in wonder as he walked to the edge of the caboose's roof and paused to watch them.

"Oh, don't mind me" he waved their concerns off "Keep going. I'm not going to break up a catfight. Once you two are done I'll just kill the winner."

This apparently set Serena off, as she turned her back on Ruri in favour of this new guy. "The hell are you talking about?! You challenging me, freak?!"

"Oh, no need for that" The Rail Tracer made a placating gesture with his hands "Please, do continue. Just think of me as the talking air."

"Well if you're the air, how about you stop talking!" Serena demanded, lobbing her knife in the Rail Tracer's direction.

The Rail Tracer didn't even bother standing aside. Instead he just caught the knife in mid-air before it could lodge into his head.

As the woman stood in stunned silence again, the Rail Tracer casually brushed his finger down the blade of the knife, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

"Well, that wasn't very nice either" he warned her.

Serena just roared with rage, charging at him to deliver a punch.

The Rail Tracer could've caught the punch easily, but instead he chose to step to the side, leaning over the edge of the carriage at an angle that appeared to defy gravity. He seemed to lean over backwards to grab the edge of the roof, swung backwards to crouch against the carriage wall, and then powered himself upwards again to land back on the roof behind an increasingly irritated, ans perhaps admittedly a little impressed, Serena.

Serena turned to have at him again, but this time Ruri stepped in. She didn't much care for this Rail Tracer guy, but he hadn't done anything to her yet, whilst Serena had badmouthed her and her boys. She slashed a few times with her knives. Serena, now weaponless, temporarily at least, jumped backwards to stay of the range of the swinging blades until she reached the edge of the caboose's roof and ran out of the room to move without outright fleeing.

"So, if I'm getting what this lady here says straight," the Rail Tracer began to talk to Ruri, causing her to pause in her melee of attacks "Then you were against this whole plan from the beginning, right?"

Ruri nodded.

"And this Shun Kurosaki guy" the Rail Tracer continued "He was against this whole thing too, am I right?"

Ruri nodded vigorously.

"Alright then" the Rail Tracer now stepped forward so he was standing next to Ruri "Then I guess I could offer a little assistance."

Serena was now outraged. "What up with that?! Last I checked you're the guy who's been slaughtering all the guys in black suits _and_ my people! Now you're siding with that _coward_?!"

"Yes, that's true" the Rail Tracer shrugged "But now I've gotten to know you a bit better, this lady here sure smells like roses compared to you right now."

"You've gotta be kidding me! You're not one of _those_ are you?!" Serena demanded, throwing a punch that the Rail Racer ducked and slid between her legs to avoid "You're one of those bleeding hearts that if you saw a kid coming at you with a gun, you'd let the little bastard live just because you felt sorry for him!" She smirked with pleasure. "To think, for a moment there I was actually afraid of you! But you're just another weakling that can't go through with it!"

"So what if I'd spare him?" the Rail Tracer shrugged.

Serena frowned. "Huh?"

"In my mind, it's the certainty I possess in myself that allows me to have that kind of mercy or compassion" the Rail Tracer told her, slowly walking towards her "There's no wavering on that point. It's fixed like the stars. The fact is, I'm never going to be killed! So remember this!" He got right up in Serena's face, jabbing a finger right under her nose. "Mercy and compassion are traits that only the strong are privileged to possess! And I am strong!"

Serena was frozen on the spot, stunned, as if no one had ever put it to her like that before.

"So you're one of _those_ too" she realised "Someone who honest to god thinks he isn't going to die."

"Of course" the Rail Tracer grinned "After all, the world is mine."

This statement seemed to finally shut Serena up for good, as the only reply the Rail Tracer got was the wail of the wind.

* * *

 **Near Thomasville, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **03:45**

At the front of the train, in first-class, Zarc was relieved that Ray had finally drifted off to sleep, her head on his lap. Stress wasn't good for her or the baby, and whilst she was asleep, she wasn't stressed. He himself couldn't stand the idea of sleeping. He a firm eye on the man in the corner guarding them – Spencer, he thought his name was. Though it was unlikely the man might try to take advantage of his wife with him right there, he wasn't taking his chances with these vermin.

Just as he was truly starting to get sleepy, there came a bang from the curtained window.

Spencer stood up, taking his gun with him, most likely expecting to see the stain of a bird smashing into the window. But when he pulled back the curtains, he saw nothing.

"What the hell" he muttered, sliding open the window to look around.

Before he could get another word in, a pair of boots came flying through the window, knocking him down to the floor unconscious.

Ray bolted upright, startled by the sudden noise.

At that point, one Sora Shuin'in slid through the open window.

"Are you two ok?" he checked "If you are, we need to get moving, now."

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **12:30**

"So you saved the Dragos as well as Reira Akaba?" the president realised "Sounds unusual for a stowaway to get involved."

"Yeah, I know" Sora Shuin'in shrugged "After I saved that kid, I figured, well, it wasn't really fair of me to save him and not help the others."

"The others?" the president raised one eyebrow "Besides the Dragos?"

"Yes, sir" Shuin'in nodded "Once I saw the Dragos make it to second-class, I realised that the delinquents I saw in the dining car had been taken hostage as well."

* * *

 **Near Thomasville, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **03:45**

Shuin'in helped the Dragos to the roof, using a table cloth to help pull them up by their unsteady feet, not used to the force of the wind on top of a train.

"Head for the dining car!" he yelled to them "One you're past there, you should be safe!"

"Past the dining car!" Zarc yelled back to him "Got it!"

The pair took the table cloth and ran towards the back of the train.

Shuin'in, on a gamble, decided to peer down and look through the other lit window in the first-class carriage. Sure enough, in the suite he saw the leader of those black suit guys, watching over two girls tied together in the middle of the room.

Well, he probably only had to wait a little while. Any minute now…

Sure enough, the man he'd knocked out before came running into the room, holding a cloth to his cheek. He whispered something into his leader's ear, probably that the Dragos had escaped, and they went hurrying out of the room.

Shuin'in waited for a moment to make sure they weren't coming back, then opened the window from the outside and slid inside the suite.

For a moment, the girls looked terrified, probably expecting that red monster to come through the window. But now they just looked confused by this sudden arrival of a boy they'd never met.

Gesturing for them to stay quiet, he tiptoed across the room and freed their hands.

"Thanks a lot, man!" the woman with curly ginger hair thanked him "We would've been in serious trouble back there if it wasn't for you!"

"It's nothing" Shuin'in quickly told her "I just-"

Before he could finish, the door opened, and the girl in the purple dress, holding a rifle, stepped inside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust behind her glasses to the sight in front of her; then she raised her gun.

It was long enough for Shuin'in to think ' _Shit, I should've figured she'd be here_!'

"What are you doing?!" she yelped, cocking her gun.

Before she could get a shot off though, Shuin'in shoulder-tackled the door so only the barrel of the rifle stuck out, firing harmlessly in the floor.

"GO!" he yelled at the girls, who were already fleeing through the door into the walk-in wardrobe.

Once they were safe, Shuin'in let up pressure on the door and fled for the window.

He thought he'd made it, swinging out and up onto the roof as he heard the woman in purple get off a shot. But when he landed on the roof, his left leg almost gave out and caused him to tumble, bones fragments crunching together beneath the skin of his shin.

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **12:30**

As he finished his little adventure story, Shuin'in looked down at his bandaged leg in thought.

"It seems you had a very busy night" the president remarked "I wonder if you hadn't been injured, had you been able to save more people personally."

Shuin'in tightened his fist on top of his knee, but said nothing.

"I still ask, why?" the president asked "Why save Reira Akaba in the first place? Why risk your life to do so?"

Shuin'in appeared to take a deep breath and looked at the rivetted Shingo and Shiniji before answering.

"My father was a train engineer" he admitted "He loved trains, and he passed his love of them onto me. I guess I didn't want the train to be desecrated with the blood of a scared child. I didn't want anything to happen to them."

Shinji made some sort of adorable noise in the back of his throat, like he was about to tear up, perhaps thinking of his own kids as Shuin'in spoke.

"You love the trains" Shingo nodded along "Which is why you ride without a ticket. That makes sense."

The sharp glare Shuin'in shot him at that indicate he didn't like Shingo's sarcastic tone.

"Shingo, Mr Shuin'in has his own personal reasons for his freeloading" the president told his head editor in a stern tone "I would like you to please treat him with more respect."

Shingo immediately bolted upright in shock at the sudden scolding. "Y-Yes sir! Sorry sir!"

"So, Mr Shuin'in" the president now turned back to their crippled guest "Was this where you chose to slink back to the shadows, and allow the remaining events aboard The Flying Lancer play out accordingly?"

Shuin'in paused, before taking off one his gloves and looking down at his palm in thought.

"Well" he admitted "There was one more thing."

Across his palm was a clearly rubbed-raw rope burn.

* * *

 **Near West York, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:00**

Sayaka tried pushing her rifle through the open window to try and take aim at the brat who had escaped through the tiny entrance again, but she couldn't get her entire head and shoulders out of it. So she changed tactics and pointed her rifle at the door to the walk-in wardrobe.

"Alright, you're going to come out before I get to three, or I start blasting!" she yelled through the door "One! Two!-"

Before she made it to three though, she heard something fizzing in the middle of the room.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw where the girls had been sitting previously a small black bomb, with a lit fuse nearing its payload.

* * *

From the dining car, the blast sounded like a train derailing, making many passengers scream and clutch each other at what they thought was their inevitable demise.

"That felt like a bomb" Noburu remarked.

"That came from first-class" Michio confirmed, pointing against at the first-class carriage.

Yuya handed Michio the half-empty tommy gun he'd picked off a white suit and picked up an almost full one from a black suit on the floor.

"That must be Yuzu" he declared "I'll go find her. Michio, you're in charge here. Noburu, you better get to the freight car and get ready to unload the package."

"Did we work out which one it was?" Noburu questioned.

"Just toss all of them" Yuya suggested "I'm sure Yuzu would love some fake bombs. If you see anything else notably valuable, then you can grab that too."

"You're going alone?" Michio questioned.

"I made a promise to Yuzu that I'd come back to her" Yuya told him "If she dies now, I won't be able to fulfil that promise. So I'm going to get her back, and end this once and for all."

"Aren't you scared?" Noburu pointed out.

"Oh, I'm so nervous my legs are about to start shaking" Yuya admitted, taking a few steps back towards the door to first-class "But my mind's made up now. I'm not going to cry right now. I don't care if it kills me, I'm ready for it!"

As he pushed through the door ahead of him, Noburu was smiling with pride.

* * *

 **Near Thomasville, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **03:45**

"I am the absolute centre of this world" Dennis told Serena as the wind whipped around them on top of the train "See, neither of you can prove you exist. You certainly tried with this," Dennis looked at Ruri and pointed at his ear. "But in the end, you can't prove it was you. You're all just visions I'm having inside my head for my own amusement."

He shrugged bemusedly.

"You see, that is why I can never die. Because if the world is mine, what will happen to it if I am gone?"

He looked up at the full moon above him.

"I guess I just don't have a very good imagination. But I can only imagine that once I am gone, you will all cease to exist. Everyone else but me would simply vanish. I will be the only person in this world once I am gone."

He smiled down at Serena sinisterly again.

"You are all just part of a dream that I am having. That's why the world is mine. It's all just happening inside my head."

* * *

 **Near Hallam, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:45**

As the remaining tranquillity on the train went up in smoke, Reira was huddling on the windowsill of an open window, back in the same third-class viewing room he'd been in when the Rail Tracer had found him. This time he was next to the open window though – if the Rail Tracer thought he could try to torture him again, he'd sooner throw himself out.

There was only a few hours until the train finally reached New York, but Reira couldn't bring himself to care. He wasn't going to miraculously feel better about himself once they reached solid land. Ray and her unborn child were dead because of him. Zarc was probably dead too. His father and Reiji were going to be devasted. The adopted rag they'd picked up off the streets had gone and gotten their daughter and sister killed in a failed gamble.

The Rail Tracer was right – he was a bad boy who deserved to die for his crimes, even if he hadn't wanted too when faced with his fate. How selfish of him.

"Oh! Reira!"

Hearing a voice behind him, Reira startled and tried to turn towards it, but he slipped on the polished window sill and found himself falling out the train window. He grabbed the window frame to prevent himself from being flung to the four winds, but he could already feel his tired arms failing and finger joints turning white against the freezing, battering wind.

So, this was his fate then; escape a serial killer only to die in an accidental fall. Sora had put his life on the line for nothing.

Before he could lose his grip completely though, a head poked out of the window.

"Reira!" Yugo yelled to him "That's not how you play in the snow!"

Reira was so startled he found his fingers letting go of the frame. But instead of impacting with the track like he expected, he felt Yugo's fingers grabbing around his wrist.

Looking up, he saw Yugo holding onto his arm with two hands, trying to brace himself against the window with his knee.

"Don't let go!" he yelled to Reira, then looked back into the carriage "Rin! Help us out here!"

He tried to turn back to Reira, but his knee slid against the window frame and he tumbled out after Reira.

Reira found himself ducking his head with eye squeezed shut. Now his carelessness was going to get Yugo, one of the nicest people he had ever met, killed. After facing more armed gunmen than a militia, he was going to die falling out a window because of Reira. He should've just let him fall alone.

To his amazement, he still didn't feel an impact with the track. Looking up, he discovered Yugo had grabbed Reira's torso and was squeezing him tightly against his body. Rin was leaning out of the carriage, both hands grabbing onto Yugo's boot, her own foot braced against the window frame and trying frantically to pull them both back inside.

It was never going to work. She was never going to be able to pull both of their weights back inside the window with the wind trying so hard to suck them out.

"Don't worry Reira!" Yugo told him "We've got you! We won't let you fall!"

Why?! Why did they care?! If they knew they'd just abandon him to his fate, just like everyone else had! They _shouldn't be helping him or THEY WERE GOING TO GET HURT_!

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Reira found himself yelling and struggling in Yugo's grip "JUST GO!"

The wiggling must've been too much for Rin to handle, because she came flying out the window after Reira and Yugo. The couple twisted in mid-air until they embarrassed each other, Reira bundled protectively between them.

* * *

 **Near West York, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:00**

"So that's how it is huh?" Serena responded to the Rail Tracer's speech with a cocky smirk "I'm surprised a guy like you can keep a straight face while being so goddamn arrogant!"

"Oh it's not just arrogance" the Rail Tracer reassured her while taking a few steps back for good measure "It's vengeance. See, one of your people killed my mentor. A conductor named Chojiro."

Serena paused. One of them killed a conductor. Ah, of course!

"You're the one who killed Doktor" she realised, face splitting into a big grin "Now I think we understand each other!"

She leapt forward and threw several lightning-fast punches at him. But the Rail Tracer dodged every one of them. Then, just showing off, he grabbed her shoulders and performed a handstand on them.

"See, all I need to do is think of something…" the Rail Tracer told her.

Serena twisted on the spot, throwing him off, but before she could launch another strike, she felt a sharp pain in her ear at the same moment a blast almost deafened her. She fell back onto her back on the roof, looking up to see the Rail Tracer holding a smoking handgun in her face.

"…and it happens" he finished his statement.

Serena reached up and touched her ear. She felt a distinct hole in the side of her pinna.

"See, now we match" the Rail Tracer beam radiantly down at her "You see, I could just kill you with this gun, but where's the sport in that? Someone like you is much more fun to kill with my bare hands." His smirk turned into a look of fury. "You will be a sacrifice for Chojiro. For _my world_ which has lost Chojiro!"

Serena had been shooting him a bestial snarl, but it turned into an arrogant smirk once the notion of revenge came up again.

"Alright, great and almighty, powerful ruler of the world" she pretended to give him a mock bow "How exactly is a weakling like you going to kill me?" She got back to her feet again. "Because I think I'm just going to have to show you that the world doesn't work the way you think it does! I'm going to kill _you_ and dance upon your bloody corpse in celebration of you not existing in _my_ world anymore!"

The Rail Tracer considered this, before nodding slowly. "I just have one question before I kill you. The short man in white. Who exactly is he to you? Someone special?"

Serena's face went back to a snarl again. "You listen here, freak! That little bitch exists for the simple reason of me killing him! You don't get to kill him before I do, you hear?!"

"So he is important to you" the Rail Tracer realised "Well then, I know exactly how you're going to die."

"Oh yeah?!" Serena demanded "Exactly how?!"

"Simple" the Rail Tracer shrugged "You're going to throw yourself off this train, voluntarily, without any help from me."

* * *

 **Near York, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:15**

Up in first-class the single bomb had turned into many bombs.

Spencer was attempting to lead two Lemures he'd rustled up from out of the aether apparently in shooting through the smoke from the numerous fire bombs bouncing around the first-class corridor. They were all coming from the room which Sayaka had come pouring out of complaining about bombs being thrown in her face by weird burn-scarred ladies, so it didn't exactly take a genius to know who was throwing them.

Spencer scowled. Damn Allen and his treat the ladies like gentlemen policy.

Just as he was thinking this, another fire bomb came flying out of the suite and he was forced take cover.

Yuzu also took cover behind the door, running her hands down her face and shivering in delight at the explosions.

"Hey boss, let's go!" Meiru called to her.

Yuzu, who was already holding up another bomb under a lighter, stopped in her tracks as her face fell in disappointment.

"Aww" she groaned "Already?"

"Yeah, I think you've done enough damage" Meiru gestured to the copious amounts of smoke pouring in through the open door "Let's go meet up with the boys!"

With a sigh of disappointment, Yuzu threw the last bomb into the corridor, slightly cheered up with delight at the resulting explosion.

The two girls ran to the window, and were just about to climb through when, similarly to what happened to Spencer earlier in the carriage across the hall, a pair of feet came flying through said open window and kicked Meiru in the face. She stumbled backwards, knocking Yuzu down with her in the process.

"Well, well, well" Allen Kozuki climbed in through the window, levelling a revolver at the girls on the floor "Who would've thought such a nice dame would be hiding so many firebombs on her person? And here I thought I was being a good person treating you like a gentleman." He narrowed his eyes. "Well not anymore."

Just before he could shoot, the door to the suite banged against the wall as it was kicked open with enough force to dent the wall with it. On the other side was Yuya, still holding his tommy gun.

"Yuzu!" he yelped, firing off several bullets.

Allen reacted a split second earlier though, and managed to make it to the bathroom unscathed, slamming the door behind him and locking it. Not to be outdone, Yuya blasted the lock off and kicked this door open as well. He couldn't see Allen, but there was a large bathtub in the middle of the room. He fired at the bathtub, hearing bullets pass through the porcelain sides and hit the marble on the far wall. Satisfied, and knowing Allen had backup on the way, he retreated back into the main room again.

"Let's go!" Yuya grabbed Yuzu's hand and pulled her out the door, towards the end of the carriage.

"Hey, wait up lover boy!" Meiru yelled after him, hot on his heels.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Allen hadn't hidden in or behind the bathtub. Instead, he poked his head out of the laundry basket once he was sure the coast was clear.

' _Interesting_ ' he thought with a smile ' _It's like I'm being tested, to make sure I'm worthy of taking Kurosaki's place_.' He grinned with delight. ' _Well, it's a test I'll pass for sure._ '

* * *

Whilst Serena pondered his words, the Rail Tracer stepped to the side to show her something that had previously been obscured from her view by his body. Yuri, with one hand on top of the roof and the other in a sling, was attempting to climb up and join them.

"Yuri you moron, what are you doing up here?!" she demanded, eyes full of panic.

"I wasn't about to let you get all the fun!" Yuri just smirked at her "I'm joining in too. Who's this freakshow?"

Before Serena could tell him who her opponent was or to scram before she did something to him, the Rail Tracer proceeded to jump off the roof, swinging round and into one of the freight cars.

After a beat to make sure he wasn't going to pop up again, Serena ran over to the end of the caboose where Yuri was trying to climb up, grabbing him under the arm to pull him up.

"Get up here, you little shit, this guy means business!" she hissed at him.

Before she could succeed in pulling him to his feet though, the Rail Tracer jumped up behind Yuri, ripping him from her grip and yanking him away until they reached the far end of the caboose, one arm tight around his neck.

"What the hell?!" the other Polyma sibling demanding, trying to jab his captor in the side and get free. He may have succeeded under any other circumstance, but with one arm in a sling, he was mostly helpless against a much bigger, much stronger opponent.

"Well, I think this is your stop" the Rail Tracer announced, shrugging a wind of rope off his shoulder he had apparently picked up on his journey below "Time to get off."

Threw one end of the rope and lassoed it around a water tower that was passing them. Then, before Yuri could break free, he looped the rope around his captive's neck as a make-shift noose.

"You bastard!" Serena shrieked at him.

"Well, what are you going to do?" the Rail Tracer let go of Yuri and stepped away from him "I thought you and you alone were going to kill him?"

Yuri glared at the man who had put him in this position, then at Serena, all while frantically trying to untie the knot around his neck with one hand. Even if he tried to run, the noose would just pull him back once the rope went taught.

Ruri, ever the silent observer, simply stood by and watched the executioner pull the lever.

With a snap, the rope became taught.

Serena, shrieking a multitude of profanities in the Rail Tracer's direction, then charged forward, grabbing Yuri around the waist with one arm and grabbing the rope with her other hand, trying to prevent it from becoming taught enough to snap his neck.

The siblings soared into the air for only a second, Serena letting go of the rope when the sound of her shoulder dislocating from the sudden yank started ringing in her ears.

Not a moment later, the noose slipped away harmlessly from Yuri's neck.

The two stared at each other in amazement before it sunk in. It had been a false knot. Had Serena simply stood by, the worst Yuri could've suffered was a severe case of rope burn.

They hung in suspense for moment, the star-filled night surrounding them.

Yuri smirked. "You know, I should kill you right here."

Serena likewise also smirked. "It would be one hell of a night for you to try."

"Well then" Yuri flipped them around so he could cushion her from the inevitable impact with the water tower they were heading towards "I guess I'll just have to make sure you don't die now so I can kill you myself later!"

With a roar of determination, he raised his fist and greeted the water tower with a falcon punch.


	15. The Rail Tracer makes a proposal

**Chapter Fifteen**

"The Rail Tracer makes a stunning proposal"

 **Near Yorklyn, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:30**

As the Polymas were going on a dashing ride through the night sky, Yuya and the female members of his crew had reached the door at the top of the first-class carriage. If they climbed over the coal bed, they could reach the actually steam engine of the train where the drivers were. But that wasn't what Yuya was aiming for.

"You guys head down to the freight hold" he instructed the girls "Noburu's down there offloading the packages. Go help him. Then jump into the river with them once you're done. Michio should have the dining car handled."

"What are you going to do?" Meiru questioned.

"I'm going to draw the rest of them out" Yuya told her "Keep them from going after you guys."

"Yuya, wait" Yuzu placed a hand on his arm, forcing him to stand still "Take this."

She removed the eyepatch covering her right eye and reached to remove something. Whilst Meiru turned away making various gagging noises, Yuya just stood there unflinchingly. She then passed him what she had removed. On the surface, it looked like a glass eye, but in reality it was a cleverly disguised cherry bomb.

"This is the last cherry bomb I have on me" she told him "Use it to live."

Yuya accepted the tiny bomb with a smile. "Thanks Yuzu. I'll make sure to let it blow with love."

Yuzu's face turned a little pink. "My, my, Yuya. You keep saying such naughty things and I'll blush."

Before Meiru could scold them for acting so lovey-dovey at a time like this, the sound of a series of bullets ripped through the air, startling all three into seriousness.

"Go on" Yuya jerked his head towards the far end of the carriage.

The two girls wished him good luck and raced down the corridor towards the dining car.

* * *

A moment after the girls had made it to safety, Allen Kozuki pushed his way out of the suite he'd been hiding in. Looking up and down the corridor, he saw the girls making it to the dining car and Yuya's legs vanishing onto the roof of the carriage.

"You three" he gestured to Spencer and his two underlings, who had been crouched hiding in the suite opposite to escape the bomb blasts "You go to second-class and head the brat off. I'll push him towards you."

The two Lemures with Spencer went ahead, but Allen stopped his lieutenant before he could go after them.

"Wait" Allen put a hand on his arm "Get me _it_ first."

* * *

"Hey! Mr Black Suit guy!" Yuya yelled from the rooftop, waving his tommy gun around in the air "Come and get me!"

"For the record, it's Allen."

Yuya turned to see behind him. Allen had climbed up onto the roof with him, framed from behind by the smoke from the engine funnel. He was wearing what looked like a series of oxygen tanks on his back, and was holding a hose nozzle and a button on a wire.

Yuya would admit, he had expected…well…not that.

"You have guts kid" Allen admitted "It's a pity you're not on my side."

He aimed the nozzle and fired a stream of flames right at Yuya's face.

* * *

 **Near Hallam, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:45**

Down the train at third-class, Yugo, Rin and Reira tumbled through the air. Just as it looked like they were go the way of Serena and Yuri, Yugo remembered the lasso he'd had tied around his waist as part of his cowboy outfit. He freed it and let it fly, having no idea how to use a lasso but having faith it would grab something that wasn't the wheels of the train to slam them down to their untimely deaths.

Sure enough, the lasso grabbed something. Or rather, something grabbed the lasso.

When they pulled up short, Rin and Yugo looked up to see what the rope had snagged. On the other end of it was one Sora Shuin'in, holding onto the rope with one hand, one of the decorative lamps on the outside of the train carriage with the other, and bracing his weight against the metalwork with his feet.

For several impressive seconds, he managed to hold onto them, and the pair thought their lives might have been spared. But suddenly Shuin'in left leg, which had been bleeding profusely, gave out, and he was forced to let the rope slip through his fingers so that he could grip the train with both hands. His look of utter despair was seared into their minds as they flew away from him towards certain death.

But chance they were saved again, as one heartbeat later, Dennis Mackfield leapt off the top of the train and grabbed their rope with both hands. He bounced off a passing signal post, and threw himself into the open door of one of the freight holds.

* * *

At the other end of the train, Yuya had run out of bullets. But Allen certainly hadn't run out of fire.

Yuya ran the cherry bomb Yuzu had given him through his fingers. ' _But I have nothing to light it with_!'

Taking his chances that the flamethrower was short range, he turned on his feet and fled, crossing the dining car and into second-class without hindrance.

Allen, weighed down under the heavy tanks on his back, did his best to give chase.

By the time Yuya was reaching third-class without anyone stopping him, Allen realised something had gone very wrong.

' _Those guys were supposed to head him off at second-class. Where are they_?'

* * *

Down in the dining car, Spencer and his two underlings had made it to the end of the carriage, but couldn't force the door open. Something was jamming it shut.

"Damn it!" Spencer swore, only for his blood to run cold when he heard the sounds of a bullet being fired behind him.

Turning, he saw the chef Michio holding a tommy gun, raised to the sky where it had been fired through the ceiling of the carriage. Surrounding him were three passengers, also pointing various discarded guns at him.

"Isn't it such a good thing you and those white guys don't bother to pick up after your dead colleagues" Michio sighed dramatically "You just can't turn your back on hostages for one minute, can you?"

Spencer growled with disappointment and he and the two others threw their guns down in surrender.

On the outside of the door, a long gun had been stuck through the handle, preventing the door from opening outwards.

* * *

Yuya ran all the way to the caboose, stopping only when he realised he had run out of carriages. Before he could swing down, he realised he was trapped. If he went down to ground level, Allen would almost certainly discover the girls and Noburu. They weren't at the river, so they weren't safely off the train yet. Until then, he had to find a way to keep Allen up top.

Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Allen, and realised the man in question was only one carriage away, grinning sinisterly at him.

* * *

Down below them in the freight hold, Noburu was busy moving crates to just inside the door of the freight hold, all containing either dummy or real bombs, ready to be offloaded for when they reached the river just before the hour.

Therefore, he was a little surprised when a man completely covered in blood came swinging through said open door.

He paused, dumbfounded for a moment, before words came to him. "You're the Rail Tracer!"

The man covered in blood didn't give him a response, simply holding the end of a taught rope out to him. When Noburu stared at him blankly, the man grabbed his collar and yanked it until Noburu's head was level with his.

"Hold onto this" he instructed him "Besides the kid, there are some fine passengers on the other end."

Before Noburu could ask, the man simply handed him the rope, released his collar and left out the entrance into the corridor. Noburu found himself surprised by the large force on the rope, stunned such a slender man had been able to hold it without visibly straining. Curious, he took a peek out of the sliding door to see what he was dragging along.

He proceeded to get the shock of his life as he saw a cowboy, a saloon girl and a young boy holding onto either the rope or each other, eyes wide as they all screamed in unison at their bumpy ride.

"Oh my god! You were serious!" Noburu found himself yelling as he tried to reel the three of them in "Hold on you guys!"

Unfortunately, his attempted to reel the three in resulted in them flying high above the train in a wide arc, right over the heads of Allen and Yuya on top of it.

"Yugo! Rin! Reira!" Yuya called out to his friends in alarm.

Allen just stared at the trio with his jaw dropped, words failing him.

Noburu finally succeed in getting the wayward rope under control, pulling them back to his side of the train so he could get them inside the freight hold. However, it meant the rope was dragged along the carriage roof, right under the feet of Yuya and Allen.

Yuya managed to jump high enough to get to safety, but Allen was still a bit too shell-shocked to be reacting like the trained assassin he was. He mistimed his jump and landed flat on his back on the roof, cannisters making an audible bang when they hit the metal roof.

"What in the blazes is wrong with this train?!" he yelled to the sky.

* * *

 **Near East York, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:20**

Dennis Mackfield watched from the caboose as the Polymas vanished from his view with the water tower.

"Well, that was something, huh?" he turned to Ruri "I thought that Serena girl was just plain scum like the rest of them, but she was something else entirely, huh?"

Ruri said nothing, as always, just staring impassively back at him. He didn't blame her; if he'd just seen someone perform that display in front of her he'd be spellbound into silence too.

"And now I've got a problem" Dennis admitted "See, I said I'd kill whoever survived the fight, but since I don't know if that girl survived, what do I do? You have any ideas?"

Ruri just blinked impassively. Dennis was impressed – he'd expected her to try and find a way to wheedle out of it.

"This Shun Kurosaki guy?" Dennis asked, walking over to her "He's the one you're so protective of, right?"

Ruri nodded once.

"My adopted brother used to work for him" Dennis remarked "Wonder if you ever met him."

Ruri just stared back at him, perhaps not knowing how to answer that without words.

"Anyway, this Shun guy" Dennis got back on to the point "Is he your boyfriend?"

As Ruri mulled this over, she could've sworn she saw an image of Shun standing behind this blood-covered strange. He simply nodded once.

Ruri, in turn, shook her head.

"Ok" Dennis tried not to show his glee "Is he family?"

Shun's image nodded again.

Ruri also nodded.

Dennis' face broke into a big grin. "He's your brother, isn't he?"

Shum's image nodded for a third time.

Ruri nodded twice.

"He's the one they've got locked up in San Francisco, isn't he?" Dennis guessed "They call him the Birdman. They say he sold his soul to the devil to be able to see through the eyes of bird. That he can see everything in the world using his birds' eyes. That he knows every secret there is to be told. I bet he's even watching us right now."

A crow cawed somewhere. Shun's image's eyes narrowed dangerously and placed a finger to its lips.

Ruri raised one of her knives to Dennis' throat, eyes also flashing dangerously.

"You poor doll" all the pieces clicked into place for Dennis "You think I want to use you to find your brother. That I'm going to harm him to find out all the secrets he hides; that he's been willing to go to prison on some godforsaken rock, away from you, to protect you. And that he's going to blame you for his pain."

He began to walk forward, undaunted by the knife at his throat. Ruri in turn walked backwards with his steps, her knife never moving further away from or towards his throat.

"I bet he's the only family you have left" Dennis surmised "Maybe even the only family you've ever known. You don't have anyone left to love you – he's all you got, and you'll die protecting him, no matter how much he screws up. I'm getting this right, aren't I?"

Ruri didn't indicate whether he was right or wrong, just glared up at him consistently.

"Well the fix is simple" he stopped so that Ruri's heels just scraped the edge of the roof "You just have to marry me and I'll be your brother's brother. Then as a member of the family I'd be obligated to protect him too."

Ruri's jaw probably would've dropped if she wasn't such a composed person. Her eyebrows gave her away though, climbing towards her hair like a pair of soaring birds.

"I promise you, my intentions are entirely serious" he tried to reassure her, raising both hands in a surrendering gesture "I will take care of both you and your brother. And I won't betray you like your friends dressed in black down there. I have no need of the secrets your brother possesses. I simply don't need them. I control this world, which means I simply have to want something, and it happens. I could know all of your brothers' secrets if I wanted to, so I don't have any use for him in that regard. I am a man who can never die nor want for anything. You have to believe me, I truly believe that to be the case." He smiled nervously at her. "So what do you think?"

Ruri didn't make any particular outward gestures, but she was clearly conflicted about it. Which meant she was actually considering it.

Dennis was elated. He'd never had anyone even _consider_ one of his proposals before. He'd proposed to countless people in the past, only to receive a nervous laugh or a hand flying towards his face.

And of all the people to accept his proposal, he'd hoped it would be this girl. He remembered watching her climb to the top of the caboose, eyes flashing with rage and determination, the way she'd fought Serena in his stead for a while.

' _Dennis Mackfield_ ' he remembered one part of his brain telling him ' _Here you are, face-to-face with the most beautiful girl you have ever laid eyes on. She doesn't talk back – doesn't even need to talk – and has a better grip on those knives that anyone with any weapon you've ever met. What are you going to do about it_?'

' _I'm going to ask her to marry me_ ' the other part of his brain happily chirped back.

' _You always ask girls to marry you. They always say no._ '

' _She won't. She's afraid of nothing. She's not even afraid of the Rail Tracer_.'

' _You're right. God, I hop she wins the fight_.'

' _Me too_!'

However, before he could get that all important nod, he saw something twinkling in the distance behind her.

He pulled her to him, twisting her out of the way of the bullet, the shock wave of which flanked behind a split second later.

He glared at the culprit – a lady wearing glasses and a purple dress several cars up. She was pointing a rifle down the train at him – or Ruri maybe? – just peeking over the top of the roof in the hope Dennis wouldn't notice her, just like a professional sniper would do. There was blood streaming down her face. Had she taken a hit to the head recently? Well, that was no excuse for trying to harm the most recent love of Dennis Mackfield's life, in his opinion.

"I'll go deal with her" he decided, looking down at Ruri "There's a river coming up just before the hour. If you want to avoid the police, you'd best try jumping off there. Oh, but please carve your answer to my proposal into the roof of the carriage before you go." She released her from his embrace and blew her a kiss, racing across the carriages towards the sniper. "Feel free to throw your knife after me if you want! But you'll never hit me!"

Sure enough, as Dennis dodged the incoming bullets in his race up the train, no knives came after him.

Who would've thought. It wasn't Dennis Mackfield that had had his proposal accepted, but the Rail Tracer.

Maybe he'd been going about it the wrong way after all.


	16. Yuya faces Allen in a blaze of glory

**Chapter Sixteen**

"Yuya faces Allen in a blaze of glory"

 **Near Highmount, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday, 31st December 1931**

 **04:50**

Down in the freight hold next Noburu's hold, Yuzu and Meiru were also preparing the crates they wanted for launch into the river. They both winced at the series of thuds and what sounds like screaming going on outside and above them.

"Are you sure Yuya's going to be alright up there?" Meiru asked her partner "I mean, he's not exactly got the constitution to be a fighter."

"Yuya may act like a crybaby" Yuzu told her "But when things get serious, all those tears dry right up. Just like when he got that tattoo."

Meiru paused; she'd never heard the full story of how Yuya got that tattoo. "Well if he can get down with it when he wants to, why does he keep crying all the time?"

Yuzu stopped when she was doing and appeared to grit her teeth.

Before she could say anything though, a series of loud bangs, clearly gunshots rang overhead.

"No!" Yuzu yelled, grabbing a couple of grenades from a crate and strapping them to her belt "Meiru, you're getting off here."

"So are you" Meiru pointed out "Yuya said-"

"I don't care what Yuzu said!" Yuzu declared, picking up a tommy gun for good measure "You go ahead and meet with the recovery team by the river. Yuya and I will go on to New York."

"You could get caught by the police" Meiru pointed out.

"I already told you!" Yuzu declared, kicking the door to the corridor open "I don't care!"

* * *

Up on the roof, Yuya was making a mad dash for freedom, jumping over the flailing Allen to try and escape to the top of the train. But in his haste, he dropped the cherry bomb, it landing in the small ridge between the edge of the roof and the gutter. By the time he'd stopped and bent down to pick it up, Allen was on his feet and aiming the flamethrower at him again.

A crazy idea started to form in Yuya's head, as he spun to face Allen rather than try and run away.

"So, you ready to die, Tattoo Boy?" Allen smirked.

Yuya looked to his side. There was the river. The others should be getting off any time now. It was time to end this.

With a roar of determination, Yuya charged towards Allen.

"Are you kidding me, kid?" Allen seemed disbelieving at what was happening, but fired his flamethrower anyway.

But rather than the massive tongues of flames he'd been giving off earlier, all he got was a weak sputter.

"What?!" Allen reached back behind him to tighten the pressure nob. However, it seemed to be jammed in the lowest setting possible. "What's happening?!"

It suddenly occurred to him. Falling onto his back when the rope swept under his feet. Had the fall jammed it?

Before he could work out how to free the nob and turn the pressure back up, Yuya was on top of him and headbutting him in the face. After being forced backwards by three consecutive headbutts, Allen looked at Yuya with murder in his eyes and made a fist.

* * *

Yuzu hurried towards the edge of the freight carriage, ready to climb onto the roof and take on the suicidal bastard that had dared hurt her Yuya.

Before she got there though, the train was rocked by a massive explosion somewhere above her.

Now in a blind panic, rather than the usually blissful pleasure at hearing an explosion, Yuzu pelted towards the door at full speed.

Subconsciously, she touched the eyepatch over her empty eye socket, remembering what Yuya had told her when he'd first seen her scars, the day he turned up at her bedroom window with that gaudy sword tattoo all the way down his face so people would stare at them equally.

 _"I know the times I want to cry most are probably the times I'm going to most need to get serious. So every time I feel like crying, I'm just going to do it, no matter what about things. Then I'll have cried for every time I feel scared, you know. And when I need to be brave, all my tears will have dried up."_

* * *

Yuya startled as a sound like a gunshot rang thrice in his ear, causing him to take a step back.

He felt his right side, where a sudden flare of pain kicked up that didn't seem like it was related to the three punches Allen had manged to land on him

He felt blood.

Looking down, he saw blood leaking from a small hole in his side, as well as his left arm and the inside of his left thigh.

Tiny bullet wounds. He'd been shot.

"See how clever this is?" Allen grinned, holding up his wrist and showing a derringer tucked into his sleeve, a small wire tied around the trigger "It fires a bullet every time I put my fist into someone."

Yuya tried not to show his irritation. He was hoping he'd be able to fight Allen close-quarters, where there wasn't enough room to manoeuvre the flamethrower. But if he could shoot a bullet just by punching, he wasn't risking him being able to get a good shot off.

"You can try and run, but I'll just catch up to you" Allen told him "And at this range, there's no way I can miss you! So the question I should be asking you is-" He raised the nozzle of his flamethrower again. "Any last wor-AH!"

Allen suddenly shrunk back, raising a hand over his eyes. Yuya was startled, until he started to see light reflecting off the train car and sparkling on the water of the river.

It was sunrise! The sun was coming up! And they were travelling east, which meant Allen was now facing the rising sun! He was blinded!

In his panic, Allen squeezed the trigger of the flamethrower, a spit of flames licking across the roof between them.

Well, it was now or never.

Yuya threw the cherry bomb into the flames and jumped back into the gap between the carriages, covering his head from the inevitable blast.

* * *

On the balcony of the caboose, an emergency resuscitation was taking place.

As least, if vaguely bowing over the body of an immobile twelve-year-old counted as an emergency resuscitation, that is.

Yugo chose to believe it was.

"Reira!" he wailed "Reira open your big beautiful eyes!"

"Are you hurt anywhere, Reira?" Rin, who was holding his hand in tears, begged him "Please, we need you to tell us you're okay!"

Reira just lay back at the spot he had almost died at earlier that evening, staring up at the slowly brightening sky.

' _I don't understand_ ' he thought ' _Why are they still here_? _They saw what happened last time they tried to help me. Why haven't they left yet_? _They're going to eventually_.'

A sudden explosion overhead startled all three of them, a rush of heat racing down towards them as the sky light up white.

"Was that bad guys?!" Yugo yelped, looking at the roof of the caboose as the glow faded to normal again.

"Come on" Rin scooped up Reira and began carrying him to safety "We have to make sure the bad guys don't hurt Reira."

"Yeah!" Yugo agreed "No one's gonna hurt our little buddy!"

Reira was stunned by the words. ' _Little buddy_?'

* * *

Down in the Susquehanna River, Meiru looked up at the train she'd just leapt from a minute ago as it moved out of sight behind the trees from her position perched on top of a crate. Before it moved away however, she saw the massive blast extend from the roof of the caboose.

Meiru's jaw might've dropped and her eyes widened.

"Whoa" was all she could say.

If Ruri, who was another two hundred yards up the river sheltering under the railway bridge, was capable of speech, she probably would've said the same thing.

* * *

Yuya peered over the edge of the roof, then jumping up when he saw what he thought was the immobile form of Allen twitch. The explosion had knocked him around, but apparently his canisters had protected him from the worst of the blast.

Yuya figured he should give him a chance. Now he saw what Yuya was capable of, maybe Allen would give up.

"You little bastard!" Allen roared, fighting to get to his feet despite his horrific burns "Get up here and let me finish you off myself!"

Ok, so he clearly wasn't going to repent any time soon. Yuya didn't like killing, but now they were past the river, he was going to have to ride this train all the way to New York with this crazy guy and Yuya wanted to live. More than he wanted Allen to.

Despite being unarmed, he summoned a battle cry and charged forward.

"What are you going to do!" Allen screamed at him, pulling a knife from his jacket "You're unarmed!"

"I HAVE A GUN!" Yuya yelled at him, charging forward and jabbing his shoulder into Allen's chest. Allen's knife stabbed into the meat of his arm, but he didn't care, pushing them to the edge of the caboose.

"IN MY HEART!"

With one final shove, both Yuya and Allen went tumbling from the back of the train.

Allen fell faster, thanks to large weight on his back. He didn't even have time to yell before his canisters hit the moving rails, a massive explosion of fire engulfing him in an instant.

* * *

"YUYA!"

Yuzu ran to the edge of the caboose's roof, having just see the boys fall.

Just before she got there though, she saw a small hand reach and grab the edge of the roof. To her relief, she then saw the top of Yuya's head.

The flow of the blow had pushed the falling Yuya back enough for him to grip the rail of the caboose's balcony, saving him from sharing Allen's horrible fate.

"Here, let me help you!" Yuzu tossed her tommy gun down onto the balcony so she could use both hands to pull Yuya back up onto the roof of the caboose. Once she was sure he was safe, she pulled him into a tight hug.

"You were supposed to jump" Yuya told her, leaning into her embrace anyway.

"Of course I couldn't leave you" Yuzu told him "You'd get into _way_ too much trouble without me."

"Of course!" Yuya laughed "You know, Yuzu, that was the best batch of cherry bombs yet. You should make some more – we could make a real fortune on them."

Yuzu was a little worried by the abrupt change of conversation. She pushed him back a little and actually looked at his face. He wasn't crying or anxious; in fact, it was the first time in a long time she'd seen him completely tranquil.

"Are you ok?" she asked, just in case she'd missed something.

"You know, Yuzu, I think everyone's been right about one thing" he told her "I have been crying too much lately." He brushed a lock of hair away from her face, revealing her face streaked with tears of worry. "But I think I'll say those extra tears I was sheading for _you_ , so next time you think you need to cry, you don't have to worry, because I've already cried for you."

Yuzu was about to start crying again if he kept that up. She was about to tell them this, when she saw him tense and look at something behind him. Turning, she saw a figure silhouetted against the rising sun, standing a fair way up the train. All she could see of them is that they appeared to be covered in blood.

"Is that-?" she almost asked, but was startled when Yuya stood up, staring the figure down "Yuya!"

Yuya didn't pay her any attention, standing between her and the figure, still bleeding from his wounds and with a knife sticking out of his arm. She thought he was unarmed, but suddenly realised he was holding a grenade. Checking her belt, she found one of the grenades she brought was missing.

She'd tossed her gun out of reach, and now Yuya was potentially about to go up against some other nutbag with nothing but an untested grenade.

This couldn't be happening. They were supposed to be safe now the black suits' leader was gone!

"Yuya!" she yelled up at him frantically "Don't do it!"

Just as Yuya was about to charge though, the figure moved. It didn't reach for a weapon or run at them. Instead, it simply waggled its finger at them, little they were naughty school children.

Without a word, whilst the pair of them were still stood there, stunned, the figure jumped down between the carriages and out of sight.

"What was that?" Yuzu questioned.

"The Rail Tracer, I think" Yuya guessed "It's sunrise. I guess monsters don't like being out during the daylight."

"So we got lucky?" Yuzu suggested.

"I guess so" Yuya breathed out a sigh of relief.

A few moments later, Noburu's head popped out between two of the carriages near them.

"What is going on up here?" he questioned "Why didn't you two get off when you were supposed to?"

"Noburu!" Yuya cheered, Yuzu's face lighting up with joy "You're alright!"

"Of course I'm alright" Noburu frowned, looking at the ruined roof of the caboose "What have you children done up here?"

* * *

Along the train, Yugo and Rin had taken Reira to the coupling between the second and third-class carriages. He was still staring up at the sky blankly, whilst the couple tried to get his attention.

' _I have to get up_ ' Reira thought, raising his left hand into the air on instinct ' _I have to get away from them. Hide where Senator Akaba and Reiji can't find me. Go someone where no one knows me. Stay away from anyone, keep them safe. Maybe then I can start to make up for my sins_.'

Suddenly he found his hand seized in Rin's grip.

"Reira, you're alright!" Rin cheered.

"We thought the Rail Tracer ate your soul for sure!" Yugo told him, then turning to Rin "So the Rail Tracer didn't get him?"

"Well it's all very simple, really" Rin told him "The Rail Tracer only swallows the souls of naughty children. But I'm sure when he realised Reira was a good boy after all, he decided to give Reira's soul right back."

"That makes so much sense!" Yugo declared.

"You're wrong" Reira found himself sitting up and telling them "I'm not a good boy."

Yugo and Rin seemed upset at this.

"How come?" Rin asked.

"I've done so many horrible things" Reira told them "I lied to you. I told you I was going to New York to see my family, but the true was, my family abandoned me when they realised what a bad boy I was. And now my adopted family's going to hate me because I got Ray killed. So now I'm completely alone. I have no family! And I never will!"

Despite years of training himself never to look weak, Reira found himself sobbing anyway. The night's events were simply too much for him.

Rather than the couple leaving him in disgust though, he found they each put a hand on one of his shoulders.

"Oh Reira!" now Yugo was sobbing "You're such a good, sweet boy!"

Reira blinked, stunned. "Really?"

"You told a lie because all this time you didn't want us to worry, when in fact you were the worst off at all!" now Rin was bawling "Well don't you worry! We'll be your family! Just leave everything up to good old Aunty Rin for now on out!"

"Oh wow, you're lucky, champ" Yugo told him "Once Rin takes charge, you can just kick back and relax, and everything's going to be ok." He beamed at Reira with certainty, placing a hand on the side of his face comfortingly. "So you can go ahead and smile, ok?"

Reira didn't smile though. However his eyes did gleam with weld-up tears.

"Hey Yugo! Rin! Reira!"

The three looked up to see Yuya and Yuzu peering down at them from the roof of the third-class carriage. A moment later, Noburu peered out the door from the same carriage.

"Everyone's ok!" Yugo cheered with joy "Yahoo!"

"Now you're talking!" Yuzu agreed.


	17. All embrace the joy of life and equality

**Epilogue**

"All embrace the joys of life and equality"

 **Grand Central Station, New York, New York**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **10:45**

Yugo and Rin hadn't even been off the train two seconds before they spotted exactly who they'd come all this way to find.

Masumi and Hokuto found themselves rushed by two of the dismounting passengers. Unlike the others, this couple still had big smiles and sparkling eyes.

"Hokuto and Yaiba and Masumi and DAMON!" the Yugo hooted with joy, let go of Hokuto to now tackle an equally joyous Damon.

"Yugo! It's been too long!" Damon laughed.

"How was California, Rin?" Masumi asked, smiling at Rin who had hugged her.

"Warm, but dirty" Rin admitted now hugging Yaiba "It's great to be home."

"We got your letter!" Yugo cheered "And a present for Masumi's birthday too!"

"Oh, you didn't need to do that" Masumi insisted.

"No offence man, but you look like hell" Damon admitted, looking Yugo over. Up closer, he could see what appeared to be a few bruises on his skin and his clothes were a little torn up. Rin's too.

"What happened in there?" Reiji asked, searching the other doors with his eyes from his family disembarking.

Yugo laughed again, patting Reiji's shoulder, but it seemed more weary this time. "Live long enough and we'll tell ya!"

Yaiba laughed along with him, but noticed a young boy back in the doorway the couple had come from. He seemed reluctant to step into the light of the station.

"Hey! Reiji!" he turned his head and saw a man and woman approaching Reiji. The woman, who resembled Reiji enough he guessed she was his sister, ran up to him and grabbed him in a hug.

"Good to see you again, Reiji" the man who was with her – her husband probably – took off the army cap he was wearing and shook Reiji's free hand.

"What happened, Zarc?" Reiji asked "The train was delayed? What for?"

Zarc just laughed nervously, like Yugo had done. "Man, if I could tell you, I would, but I wanna live to see my kid born!"

Reiji seemed stumped by this, until the woman whispered something in his ear, at which point his face turned from confused to delighted.

"Hey, Yugo, Rin" Hokuto now spoke up, pointing at the same boy on the train Yaiba had seen earlier "Is he with you?"

Rin and Yugo's faces suddenly lit up. They hurried back to the train pulled the reluctant boy over to the group by his arms.

"Oh Masumi!" Yugo sing-songed "We present you Reira, your new birthday present!"

"A new baby brother!" Rin picked up the sing-songy tune.

"So you'll never be lonely again!" they finished in unison.

There was complete silence amongst the group, as they all looked down at Masumi's 'birthday present', who was ducking his head and refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

Masumi finally smiled and crouched down to talk to the boy face-to-face. "Hello Reira, I'm Masumi."

"Um…hello" the boy murmured.

They all then turned their heads as Reiji approached the boy himself.

"Reiji" Reira murmured shamefully, turning to him.

' _He's spoken to Ray and Zarc_ ' his mind was screaming ' _He knows what you did and hates you so much. You should just leave now before he has to do it himself._ '

"It's alright Reira" Reiji reassured him.

' _Don't believe him_ ' Reira told himself ' _He's going to come out with it any minute. And you deserve it, you deserve every bit of hate he gives you before he abandons you._ '

"It's good to see you again" Reiji told him "I missed you whilst you were at school."

' _Liar_ ' his mind supplied ' _He's lying. He's going to show you his true colours any second now_.'

"Do you feel the same way?" Reiji asked, placing a hand on top of Reira's head and ruffling his hair.

' _Don't believe him. Don't believe him_! _DON'T BELIEVE HIM_!'

But Reira finally caved, launching himself at Reiji and grabbing with around the waste, burying his face in his brother's jumper and outright sobbing.

"I did miss you!" he sobbed "I missed you so much!"

And there, on that platform on the eve of the new year, after all the trauma just hours ago, wrongs were righted, and joy filled the crispy morning air.

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **14:00**

"It's surprising, don't you think?"

"What is?" Shuin'in asked.

"That so many survived what should've been an outright massacre" the president acknowledged "And how many owe their lives to you."

Shuin'in scoffed. "No they don't."

"Oh?" the president just smiled benignly "So the rumour I heard about how you told the drivers to keep driving because there was a team of train robbers trying to keep up with the train, ensuring it never stopped until all the hijackers were either dead, disembarked or surrendered. I suppose that wasn't you, then."

Shuin'in gritted his teeth. "I guess not."

The president looked over at Shinji and Shingo, smiling knowingly.

"Anyway, that's it" Shuin'in told him "Can I go?"

"Of course" the president nodded "I know you won't take money. But you have my word we will do everything in our power to set the record straight."

Shuin'in paused, then picked up his crutch and got to his feet. "Thanks, I guess."

He turned to Shinji as he past him, thanking him also.

"Thanks for the sweets" he told him "I liked them."

As he reached the door, however, ignoring Shingo entirely, he turned back to the president.

"Can I ask something of _you_ , sir?" he questioned, sounding more polite then than he ever had.

"Of course" the president nodded "Ask away."

"Why did you ask me to come here?" Shuin'in asked "If you're not looking to publish the story. Why did you need me to tell it?"

The president adjusted his glasses and folded his hands one over the other. Under any other circumstances, that would have meant the conversation was over, but he seemed to be in an unusual mood this morning.

"When my father adopted Reira, I was sceptical" the president admitted "I knew it was a campaign decision, fundamentally, but I also worried he was trying to replace Ray with something so opposite he wouldn't feel guilty. I thought of him as a burden, rather than a sibling." He sighed with disappointment, probably at himself. "I knew something had happened to him, and Ray. They wouldn't talk to me about it though. I assume they've been threatened into silence by someone who wants this all covered up. I don't want to make their lives more difficult, I just wanted to know how close I came to losing almost my entire family whilst I didn't appreciate them, and what for."

"Well" Shuin'in seemed uncomfortable with this answer "I hope I helped you with that, I guess."

"You did" the president reassured him.

Shuin'in nodded once, then left, closing the door behind him.

"Well he was just bizarre" Shingo admitted "Can you trust a word he says?"

"He the _only_ one who's word I can trust on that train" the president admitted "The senator made sure the business was hushed up. But, _his_ approach to the hush money was…unique."

* * *

 **Grand Central Station, New York, New York**

 **Monday 4th January 1932**

 **20:00**

Sora Shuin'in was back where he'd been on Thursday, plotting what to do. Having to go to hospital to get his leg splinted meant he'd missed his original appointment, and everything he'd needed to do in New York had been done. Now he had to sit around and wait for another job. Considering he'd missed this one, and not gotten the payout he needed, he may as well sleep in the station. It was that or a park bench.

Just as he was pulling a blanket out of his bag, a man approached him.

"Were you on The Flying Lancer?" the large man questioned.

Sora narrowed his eyes up at the man suspiciously. "What about it?"

The man then produced an envelope. "I think you're who I'm looking for. This is my thanks."

As the man walked away, Sora decided to open the envelope. By the time the man – Senator Leo Akaba, he now recognised him – had made it to the other side of the station to join some other people, Sora found himself staring down at the largest amount of cash he had ever seen in his life.

His face burned with embarrassment and rage. Did the senator think he could _buy_ him? That what he'd done on the train was for _money_? The hell did he think he was?!

"HEY!" Sora bellowed across the station "GET RIGHT BACK HERE AND TAKE THIS BACK YOU PIECE OF-!"

He stopped as he saw one of the people the senator was with wave at him. It was Ray Drago, the girl from first-class who he'd pulled to safety. And next to her was the young boy – her brother was it? – who he'd gotten away from that conductor freak.

The grin and small smile he got from each of them respectively floored him, and distracted him long enough for the group to move out of his vision.

He looked down at the money in his hand.

Well, if those guys were so eager to give it to him, he may as well give it back the only way he could.

He crossed to one of the ticket booths and slammed the entire wad of cash in front of the cashier.

"I want all the tickets this money can buy" he told him.

The cashier's mouth opened and closed a few times in shock before he choked out. "Where to, sir?"

"I don't care!" Sora growled at him "Just do it!"

* * *

 **Chinatown, New York, New York**

 **Friday 5th February, 1932**

 **14:00**

"He spent it all on train tickets?" Shinji seemed equally surprised "Well now all the letters you made me send to different parts of the country make sense."

"But why?" Shingo frowned "I thought his whole deal was freeloading?"

The president finally decided to reveal the secrets he knew.

"The man you just met was Sora Shuin'in" he told them "His father was Marco Shuin'in, a long-time train engineer who occasionally taught classes at rail colleges across the country. Then, the train he was on derailed at a road crossing in New Orleans and hit several cars waiting at the crossroads, including a school bus. The death toll was…unlike anything seen before. Officially the accident was caused by Mr Shuin'in failing to maintain the brakes, meaning the train couldn't slow down in time. Unofficially, the wheels decoupled from the train due to low-strength bolts being used as a cheap replacement."

"So they covered it up?" Shingo questioned.

"Yes, and Marco Shuin'in took the fall" Reiji continued "He's spent eleven years in prison for negligence leading to death, and upon his release will be banned from working on trains again."

"Talk about being _royally_ screwed" Shinji winced.

"Sora inherited his father's love of trains" Reiji finished the story "He now works as a fact-finder, crossing the country by rail to take up jobs. But, it was the rail companies who put his father in prison and took the trains away from him. So, to get back at them, he refuses to buy his tickets and put money in their pockets."

"That…actually makes a lot of sense" Shingo realised "So the price of his story…"

"Was to set the record about his father straight" the president confirmed his thoughts "We start on it on Monday. But for now, what do we know about what happened to the other passengers?"

Shingo flicked to the page of his notebook where he'd written all that down.

"Yugo and Rin are still in New York, they may decide to settle down here eventually, what with their hunt for gold out west coming to nothing" he read.

"Can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing" Shinji admitted "Those two jokers living in our city."

"They still maintain contact with Reira, and ensure he takes frequent visits to see Masumi" Shingo continued "You remember the Kotsu family mansion that they stole back from Eita Kyuando?"

"The big gaudy building on Fifth Avenue?" Shinji recalled "Yeah, why?"

"Well, Masumi doesn't like living there by herself" Shingo told him "So she's invited Yuya and his gang to live there instead."

Shinji's eyebrows rose into his hair. "How did that come about?"

"Yugo and Rin introduced them some time in the new year" Shingo told him "By all accounts it's a harmonious arrangement. If you call frequent bomb test explosions harmonious." He paused to assess the information he had written down. "Yuya and his gang appear to have gotten away with stealing the army bomb that Zarc Drago was transporting. At least, the army won't admit there was ever a bomb aboard the train. Under the circumstances, though, they've gone fairly easy on Drago about losing it."

"I'm sure his father-in-law had something to do about that" Shinji suggested.

"Both of the Dragos and their baby escaped the train unharmed" Shingo reported, looking at the president "But you already knew that."

The president just kept smiling benignly as Shingo flipped to a new page.

"Serena and Yuri Polyma were picked up by the FBI" he continued "They're both cooperating with authorities. Last anyone heard, they were being held at the FBI branch in Pittsburgh, but no one's heard from them since. The Fuser organisation is denying they had any knowledge of the attack, and is now denying any affiliation with the Polymas in the first place."

"Well there's irony" Shinji joked.

"Since the Lemures' plan was stopped, Shun Kurosaki remains on Alcatraz, even if no one will admit he's there" Shingo continued "One of his trusted allies has taken over the former Kurosaki affiliation in Chicago."

"Not his sister?" Shinji seemed surprised.

Shingo just grinned at that. "You wouldn't believe who she's now working for."

Shinji didn't get it. "Who?"

"Who do you think pulled her out of the river?" Shingo grinned.

"No way!" it hit Shinji like a bolt of thunder "She _stayed_ with them? I can't decide whether those guys have gained themselves a powerful ally or a whole basket of trouble!"

"It makes sense that the girl who lost her family would seek out the strangest family of choice in existence" Shingo pointed out "After all, she's still waiting for her happy ending."

"I don't think you need to worry there, Sawatari" Reiji Akaba, President of the Daily Days, sat back in his chair with a content smile on his face "I have a feeling those two are going to be just fine."

* * *

 **Near Allentown, Pennsylvania**

 **Thursday 31st December 1931**

 **06:00**

At the edge of the caboose, almost untouched by the explosion caused by Yuzu's cherry bomb, Dennis Mackfield was perched over a message carved into the roof.

 _I will be waiting for you in Manhattan_

 _I will wait for you forever_

 _Please try to find me_

 _I will try to find you too_

 _R.K._

"Manhattan, huh?" Dennis stood up, looking into the sun towards New York "That's an awfully big place. And I didn't even tell her my name."

He stretched and rolled his shoulders, shaking off any pains from overexertion during the night after a long break.

"It'll have to wait until I've finished my business with Damon and Dobocle" he told himself "But then, I'll find you, Pretty Lady. I promise."

And with that promise in the air, he leapt from the train into the dawn.

* * *

 **And one month later, here we are! 13 chapters, 170 visitors and absolutely no reviews later! (Come on guys, it's nearly Christmas!)**

 **Regardless, it's been a wild ride writing this. Since there aren't enough characters in Arc-V for me to have written in the Immortals Arc of Baccano, I had to cut the elixir of life subplot entirely. And I thought, that's fine, the Lemures want their leader out of prison for another reason. And then, about four chapters in, I remembered Czeslaw and my mind might have imploded. Cutting him just didn't feel right, but then why would Reira want to take out everyone in the dining car? Turned out to be more of a headache than I intended.**

 **Trying to fit everyone into the roles of the Baccano characters wasn't particularly easy either. Yugo and Rin both seemed like a natural fit for Isaac, but then I couldn't seem to write the other into the role of Miria, so they sort of flip-flop between the two characters. Yuri and Serena got the same treatment - Yuri seemed like the perfect Ladd, but Serena was about as far removed from Lua as you could get; so Lua more or less got cut and the pair of them just sort of shared Ladd's roll in the plot. Yuya, Yuzu and Gongenzaka as Jacuzzi, Nice and Donny were pretty easy - surprisingly Meiru was the most fun to write. I sort of forgot how much of the story was from Nick's point of view and I wasn't about to go back and rewrite to put a character with more screentime in Meiru's place. I'm glad I didn't since her voice seemed to flow the best with this type of plot. Reira was really the only one who could've taken Czeslaw's place and putting Ray and Zarc in the place of the Bariums gave him a reason to have his own stake in the plot. Reiji of course was going to be the president with a little bit of Maiza thrown in for good measure and Shingo one of his editors - and lets face it, Shinji was just sort of born to be a political magazine editor. Weirdly the hardest person to cast was Goose. I knew I wanted Ruri to be Chane (Ruri playing the mute, since we didn't hear her talk for a hundred episodes, get it?) and Dennis as Claire, but who would that leave to play Goose? Obviously either Yuto or Shun would have to be Huey, but why would the other want to kill Ruri? I just couldn't figure it in. In the end it only went to Allen because I needed a member of the Resistance who wasn't intimately connected to the Kurosakis, and while Kaito would've been the perfect fit, I'd already vowed to leave the legacy characters out of it. So we, get crazy!Allen instead. Unfortunately that meant killing Yuto off, since I couldn't justify him not being there via any other method. As for Sora as Rachel...by that point I'd run out of characters, and along with Dennis, Sora is pretty much the biggest wildcard in the Arc-V story, so it wasn't completely out of nowhere. And lastly, Masumi as Ennis. My coolest girl in Arc-V playing the coolest girl in Baccano. My biggest regret for cutting the Immortals Arc was leaving out Ennis, Firo and Maiza, because I love them all. The LDS trio, along with Damon and Dobocle and probably Reiji serve as some weird blend of the Gandors and the main trio. Just don't expect a massive side story about them - there just aren't enough characters to cover that. Seriously, look it up.**

 **For those of you that have stuck through this marathon, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed what you read. And a little Christmas review or two wouldn't hurt anyone, right?**


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